Task Force Hydra
by iNf3ctioNZ
Summary: Task Force Hydra. The four greatest spec ops troops in the galaxy. Against all foes, their greatest enemy may be themselves. But in times like these, they must fight together or die together. Welcome aboard the SSV Marathon. Welcome to the task force.
1. Is That Door Open Yet?

Task Force Hydra

**A/N: iNf3ctioNZ: Alright? I know this isn't Masses to Masses 3, don't kill me, but the four of us involved in this fic have been itching to get stuff written and started, so here we are. Task Force Hydra, which you can probably tell is based (loosely) off the multiplayer in Mass Effect 3. I'm writing the character of Raethus Cerenti, a turian adept. Oh, and this is gonna be updated parallel to MtM. Neither fic is gonna get in the way of the other, I can just contribute to this while studying at the moment rather than writing solo. Anyway, getting the ideas together for this and writing it has been pretty damn fun, so we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we're enjoying making it (including copious hours of multiplayer as 'research'.) So yeah, enjoy!**

**Kassandra Black: Hi, everyone! First off, thanks for taking the time to read this collaborative piece. I'll be taking over the character of Camila Bennett, who you'll be learning more about (along with the other characters) as the story progresses. I've had a blast writing this, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as we've enjoyed writing it. This started off as a funny idea that quickly evolved into a detailed story so we're very excited to finally upload it for all to see. :D**

**quantumparadigm: Hey everyone! Thank you all for reading this story, and I really hope you enjoy it as much as we have while writing it (seriously, you wouldn't believe the crap we get up to)! I'll be writing the character Valeria Viridi, an asari sentinel who kicks some serious ass ;) Don't freak out about the asari language! I'm making a guide for all of you so can keep up with her insults. I really think you'll love the story!**

**TheRev28: Hey folks! So I'm writing the character of Urdnot Wrev. (Not Wreav, Wrev. Pronounced like my pen name.) Anywho, it's has been really fun writing this chapter with these three, and I think you guys and gals will like it. Since I seem to be the last one to have an A/N, I guess I'll be the one to say this: Enjoy!**

**"Is That Door Open Yet?"**

Task Force Hydra recoiled as the wall in front of them was suddenly and violently replaced by a Brute. Pieces of metal flew outward, raining down on the squad as they skidded to a halt, their progress blocked. After a brief hesitation, while the hulking creature regained whatever remained that could be called 'senses', the brute roared and charged.

"Shit!" Cami shouted, backpedaling from the oncoming brute as she debated the merits of charging the hulking tank in front of her. Probably not. It swung out its arm to slam her just as Val biotically pulled her out of harms way, while Wrev and Rae rolled to the side behind them. "Thanks," she breathed out, kneeling next to Val as she grabbed her Disciple and charged it up.

Val smiled briefly at Cami as she contemplated her next move. "Nai dithena, Zahra."

Val captured Wrev's attention with her eyes, and the krogan nodded, dusting off his pink armor. She flared her biotics and launched a powerful warp at the brute as it skidded to a halt from its previous charge, followed moments later by a powerful throw from Wrev. The resulting biotic detonation staggered, but unfortunately did not kill, the beast. Bits of its armor fell away, smoking from the explosion and Val launched another warp at it, biotic energy screaming through her whole nervous system. Wrev brought his claymore up in a smooth motion, pumping rounds into the brute in unison with Cami, each circling opposite the other around the brute so they didn't present a unified target.

Rae reaved the creature while it was distracted by the shotgun rounds blasting into its flesh and Wrev prepared another throw. Val's sniper clapped like thunder as she brought the brute into her scope and blew off a good chunk of its left arm. Seeing a new weakness, Cami began focusing her fire at the newly opened wound while Rae and Wrev maintained their reave/throw combination, wracking the brute with explosion after explosion. It was unable to charge any member of the team under such intense fire, and the effects were noticeable.

Wrev cast a sidelong glance at his turian companion. Sometimes, he couldn't believe that he was working with a turian. That he was working _well_ with a turian. He should hate turians, but this one was...different. Bearable. Maybe it was the biotics. Rae was powerful, and Wrev had learned long ago to respect power, no matter the source.

Raethus noticed the krogan's glance and nodded in acknowledgment. He had always thought Wrev was exceptionally hostile, strong and violent, even for a species which prided itself on those three qualities, but the biotic displays Rae had witnessed from the krogan had changed him from simply intolerable to borderline intolerable. For a krogan, that was one hell of a step up.

The brute was slowing down and Rae, sensing that it was time to end this fight, tabbed his radio. "Alright, I think he's had enough." The brute focused its attention on the turian adept, almost as if it could sense that he was the one giving the order for its demise. Contempt poured off it in waves.

No one bothered to reply. They didn't need to. Within seconds, Wrev and Val launched powerful warps, the full strength of their biotics behind the powers, and Rae hurled another reave. Once the others had done their job, Cami got ready to finish the brute off for good. She flared eye-blindingly blue and streaked down the hallway in a biotic charge, detonating the field around the brute in a massive explosion.

"Ugh, disgusting! I hate it when that happens!" Cami was covered head to toe in blood and pulpy flesh. More was spattered on the walls around her.

Wrev turned to face the human, a smile plastered over his scarred face. "Get over it. At least you're not dead."

"Easy for you to say, Pinky. You're not covered with brute guts."

"It's got nothing on thresher maw guts," Wrev said with a small chuckle. "Now that was a fun time."

Val pulled a string of... something off her face. Of all the days to not wear her mask. At least her mouth hadn't been open. "Vahiyaranin... This is disgusting."

Rae popped a thermal clip into his pistol, trying to flinch away from the guts covering his armor. "Let's hope there aren't many more of those things around. We can't afford to keep slowing down to clean up and send 'round the hand sanitizer."

"_This_ is why I always tell you guys to wear helmets," Cami emphasized as she walked up to Val and assisted her in removing the stringy gore which had somehow managed to entangle itself around the asari's fringe, then removed her own helmet in an attempt to wipe her visor clean. Her glove smeared the blood around but didn't entirely remove it, and she sighed. "This is gonna be a bitch to clean."

Val shot a scathing look at Cami, but tempered it with a smile. Helmets interfered with sniping whereas a good holographic interface like the one she was currently wearing were much better suited to tracking targets. She carried a mask for when it was necessary.

"Need help, Rae?" she asked, noticing the turian was unwinding a particularly large chunk of intestine off his shoulder. The turian muttered something noncommittal, and Val marched up to him to help untangle the stringy flesh from around his neck.

"I don't know, Val," Wrev said, giving Rae an appraising look. "I think he looked better with that thing on him."

Val and Rae rolled their eyes at the krogan and shared a smirk. Of course he did. Cami just laughed, putting her helmet back on and shaking her head in amusement.

An inhuman screech echoed throughout the building, cutting the banter off as the whole monastery grew still. It was as if the very building was holding its breath, waiting for the shriek to pass. Everything about it sounded...wrong, in defiance of nature. The squad exchanged horrified glances as the shriek seemed to echo in their bones, slicing at their souls.

For Wrev, the noise sent a wave of anticipation through him. Whatever was making that noise obviously didn't care about stealth, which meant it must be powerful. Wrev grinned maniacally. Maybe this would be a fun mission after all.

Cami shuddered at the sound. Everything about this place reminded her of those old horror vids she loved to watch...except this was very, very real. She could feel her flesh erupt in goosebumps even though she was covered in armor.

"We better get to that elevator," Val stated quietly, hackles rising. "This is an ardat-yakshi monastery... we were wondering what happened to the initiates." She hadn't considered the fact that the Reapers might repurpose the asari that lived here for their own purposes. She wasn't sure she wanted to find out just _what_ an ardat-yakshi turned reaper was capable of.

An uneasy silence blanketed the squad as they contemplated the asari's words.

"I'm sure that sound and the fact we're in an ardat-yakshi monastery aren't related," Rae muttered sardonically, flicking the safety of his handgun on and off, a habit he'd picked up over the years whenever he was particularly on edge. Loud screaming in an already creepy monastery was having that effect, and in spades.

"What are we standing here for?" Wrev asked. "Let's get moving."

The squad took off down the hallway, stepping over the shards of metal where the brute had broken through. Aside from the intermittent wailing screech behind them, the building was eerily silent. Too silent. As if the reaper forces were coordinating, planning, or scheming. It was sinister. It was unsettling.

It was plain freaky.

"I don't like this," Val whispered, just loud enough for her voice to carry to the others as she checked their six for what felt like the millionth time.

"This place creeps me out," Cami agreed, gripping her shotgun. "The sooner we get outta here, the better."

Val examined the data streaming on her omni-tool. "The elevator should be just ahead."

They reached the open chamber, only to discover the door's access panel glowing a dull red. Wrev slammed a fist into the call button but nothing happened.

"What's wrong with it?" Cami asked Val as the asari pushed past them to take a closer look.

"This isn't good..." Val muttered, half to herself, before turning to look at the squad. "We might be here for a bit. I have to route past the main grid to get this open." Val set to work even as she finished talking, bypassing the protocols. Data streamed across the small display of the omni-tool. Whoever had locked this had done a good job. Too good of a job. She narrowed her eyes in determination. She was good, too.

Another guttural wail filled the hallway and the rest of the squad instinctively rotated to face the direction the noise had originated. The hallway was still empty, but a chill ran through them as they realized they were stuck in a precarious position with nowhere to go.

"How long is 'a bit'?" Rae asked, popping a heat sink on his pistol.

Val responded without turning to look at the turian, eyes focused on analyzing the data. "At least five minutes."

"We, uh...we might not have five minutes," Cami said as she eyed the first enemy. It was quickly taken down by Wrev with a blast from his shotgun, but there were more behind it.

Val selected a segment of code and began modifying the parameters as quickly as she could without accidentally disengaging the whole system and putting the facility in lockdown. Of course the monastery would have drastic measures like that in place. Wouldn't want ardat-yakshi escaping. "I'm working as fast as I can."

"Well work faster!" Wrev shouted over the sudden burst of shots as cannibals, marauders and husks advanced on their position, pouring out of the hallway. That one choke-point was probably the only thing that would keep them from being completely overwhelmed if they worked fast enough. So long as the enemy forces didn't get it into their heads to pour out from the balcony above. A husk leapt at the krogan battlemaster, but he threw it back against the far wall. He could have sworn he heard a snap over the din of battle.

"Ei enai!" Val shouted at Wrev. Code practically screamed across her screen as she gained access to the backup relays controlling the transportation system. The override mechanism would be contained in this secondary subsystem. Now how to go about triggering it? ...

Rae released an impressive shockwave straight down the hallway, bulldozing a few husks and cannibals and sending them flying in the air. Cami and Wrev blasted the flying reapers with their shotguns, killing the monstrosities before they even hit the ground. More cannibals replaced the dead, and they let loose a hail of bullets. The shots from their weapons peppered the elevator door behind the squad's line of defense, one narrowly missing Val.

She didn't flinch as the bullet buried itself deep within the door, warping the metal. "Ei nel ariat'enai priya-dvar het yi metak y'mil aivok!"

Cami quickly threw up a barrier and positioned herself in front of Val. "Sorry 'bout that. They just keep piling in, and there's nowhere to take cover," she said, throwing a quick glance over her shoulder. "Any luck on the door?"

"Not yet," Val hissed, feeling the mounting pressure, as she encountered another block. "These algorithms are reaper based and highly adaptive. I still can't get access to the locking mechanism, but I'm making progress. Just hang on."

Rae tossed an ammo clip to Wrev, who deftly caught it and inserted it into his shotgun in one swift move. Another wave of enemies poured through the hallway, and the sizzle of biotic energy filled the air. Seeing the new wave charging forward, Wrev decided that his Claymore was no longer his best choice. He quickly stored it on his lower back and pulled his Revenant from over his shoulder. With a small chuckle, he pulled the trigger.

"How you can be laughing at a time like this is beyond me, Pinky," Rae said, dropping an oncoming cannibal with a few well-placed pistol shots.

"Now I see why my brother put me on this team: You need to learn to enjoy a good fight, turian," the battlemaster replied, never letting up on the Revenant fire.

"Never said I wasn't enjoying myself," Rae grunted. "Just don't feel like shouting about it. Val, how about a stasis bubble?" He backed up a few steps as the line of enemies reaching them before being killed was slowly advancing. Cami punctuated the turian's request by slamming her fist to the ground in a massive discharge of biotic power. The nova blasted the few husks away that had almost breached their ranks.

The asari paused her data hacking just long enough to expertly place a stasis bubble right at the neck of the hallway. Husks froze mid-jump as they encountered the biotic field and were rendered motionless. The squad took advantage of the temporary relief to unleash a hail of bullets at the frozen enemies. Wrev discharged a throw, detonating the biotic field keeping the reaper forces in place and clearing the current wave. The squad eagerly took advantage of their new-found respite.

"Val, almost done?" Rae barked.

"Asking me that every thirty seconds won't make this go any faster," the asari replied tersely, still trying to access to the locking mechanism.

"Well, at least now-" Cami's reply was cut short by another inhuman screech. Cami, Rae, and Wrev immediately trained their weapons on the door, and Val's fingers whizzed across the small screen as she selected bits of code to modify.

"Whatever that thing is, it's getting too close," Rae said.

"Good," Wrev replied. "I'm sick of hearing it scream like that." As soon as the words left his mouth, another wail reverberated throughout the monastery. There was no doubt now: whatever that thing was, it was definitely getting closer.

"Before you ask: No, the door isn't open yet."

"Don't get your fringe in such a knot, Val," Wrev said, looking back at her with a grin.

"Shut up, Pinky." The krogan just chuckled, turning back to the entrance as the screech grew louder.

"God, why can't this thing just show up already? The suspense is killing me," Cami grumbled as she doubled the grip on her gun.

Suddenly, with a final shriek, their elusive enemy finally made an appearance. The creature was... grotesque. It had obviously been asari at one point, but whatever the Reapers did during the husk creation process warped the creature into a horrendous caricature. The limbs were elongated, stretching the thing to a good seven feet in height, and its skin was a sickly grey color instead of the normal asari blue. It floated inches above the ground, its bare feet just scraping the surface.

"What the fuck is _that_?" Rae exclaimed.

"Just something else to kill," Wrev said, sounding perfectly calm in the face of the creature.

The asari husk started to shake and was surrounded by a blue veil of raw power. Instantly, it was halfway down the hall, seeming to get there without crossing the space in between. It shook again, and it was suddenly in the room near them.

"Looks like you've got an admirer, Cami," Rae said, twitching mandibles betraying his nervousness as he flared his biotics in preparation. "She's copying you."

"If she's half as good as me, then we're in trouble," Cami retorted, though the shake in her voice belied her show of confidence. She recharged her barrier before cocking her shotgun and took a step back, the backs of her legs coming into contact with Val's back.

"Crowding me won't make this go faster, either," Val muttered just loud enough for her voice to carry. She was almost there. She could practically see the locking mechanism shut off sequence. Just one more protocol to bypass... "I've almost got it!"

The lights flashed out and power to the elevator shut down. Silence descended on them and the sounds of their breath was the only source of noise. Val activated her omni flashlight, trying to figure out what the fuck had just happened. Similar lights clicked on next to her, silhouetting Rae and Wrev neatly. Val looked at the door then back at her tool. No...

The asari husk warped forward, blasting Rae, Wrev and Cami to the side with a shrill scream and the force of her impact. The creatures' eyes settled on Val, the only one not blown away by the blast. Val furiously pried at the door, keenly aware that the asari husk was focusing its attention on her. Goddess, if only she could get the damn thing open!

A harsh, blistered hand grabbed Val by her head, lacerating her scalp as she was wrenched away from the door. With a sickening horror, she saw the tip of one of the crests of her fringe drop onto the floor in the pool of light provided by her omni as she was dragged upwards. The grip on her head was painfully tight, and she felt hot blood gush out of the wounds on her scalp and seep down through her armor. Her feet dangled above the ground, kicking at the creature's knees with no effect.

The will to resist faded as dark, glowing eyes pierced into her own. The husk was wreathed in the blue fire of biotic energy. The sounds of the others diminished, replaced by the rush of blood in her ears and whispers in the back of her mind. White hot pain flashed through her body and Val felt the melding nodes in her system activate in response to the banshee's touch. The hand not gripping her scalp reached up and caressed the soft skin of her neck.

"_Welcome, sister,"_ a voice whispered, echoing in the recesses of her mind. Val stopped struggling, her limbs falling still. She couldn't remember why she'd been struggling, but it felt important...

"No! Val!" Cami screamed, charging at the creature. But she was thrown back, her body colliding violently against the wall. Her helmet cracked, and her visor shattered as she slid down the wall. She landed painfully, breath catching in her throat as she watched in horror at the scene playing out before her. She attempted to lift herself up, but her body felt dreadfully heavy, and she collapsed back against the floor. _This is it_, she thought ruefully. This was the end, and there was nothing she could do to save the friend she had grown to love as a sister. A tear escaped the corner of her eye as she thought about how Val would never call her "Zahra" again. She had failed her...she had failed them all. A ragged breath escaped her lips and she succumbed to the welcoming darkness.

"_They will fall... and you will join us."_ Yes, Val could see that... but even as she thought that, her eyes slid away and settled on the small frame of Cami as she slumped against the wall and the will to struggle reasserted itself. The asari husk hissed in her face and pulled her body flush against the creatures, twisting her head sharply to look into its eyes. The creature glowed brighter in her mind's eye, and Val faltered.

She _wanted_ to join... but she couldn't help feeling that she was missing something important. Something vitally important.

Seeing Cami fail and noting that Val had fallen inordinately still, Wrev decided to try good old fashioned brute strength. Since he'd dropped his Revenant in the earlier blast, he quickly pulled out his Claymore and charged the asari husk. When he got close enough, he fired a shot point blank, but even that didn't take the thing's barrier down. It simply waved its hand, and Wrev was suddenly hit by a large ball of biotic energy. The battlemaster was thrown back against the wall, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw a broken support beam protruding from his chest. The rage began flowing, but there was nothing he could do.

After Cami and Wrev were decimated at close range, Rae decided to stay as far back as he could. Wrev's massive shotgun had done little to no damage, meaning Rae's Predator pistol would be useless. That left him biotics. Not wasting a moment, the turian biotically reaved the thing that was still holding Val. He had come to appreciate the asari sentinel for her sharp wit, one to match his own, and spirits take him if he couldn't save her. With the reave in place, Rae started to follow it up with a shockwave.

That's when he noticed the massive ball of energy streaming towards him. He tried getting his shockwave off, but he had to dodge the attack. The shockwave was subpar with very little power behind it. And despite his evasion attempt, the creature's attack impacted him square in the chest, sending him to the ground from the sudden, intense pain. He bit back a scream as the pain flashed white hot, searing through him. He wouldn't give the asari husk the satisfaction, no matter how much it hurt. He collapsed onto his hands, talons splayed out before him as the pain intensified, like an electric shock ravaging through his nervous system.

With the others neutralized, the asari husk leaned in closer. Dark, bloated lips grazed against Vals, and she shuddered involuntarily. The husk's free hand slid up her chest, settling right below her breasts, and Val shivered again. A coldness dampened her soul.

"_Embrace eternity!"_


	2. Camila Bennett

**A/N - Kassandra Black: Hi, guys! Well, as I mentioned, I will be writing the character of Camila Bennett. I won't go into much detail, but Cami's an Alliance soldier coming from a military family. She's young and idealistic, ready to take on the galaxy as I'm sure you'll realize soon enough. **

**I know the first chapter left many questions...and you'll just have to wait for the answers. ;) However, we **_**do**_** have some cool stuff we want to show you guys. Curious about what Cami looks like? ****quantumparadigm**** did an amazing job of bringing Cami to life. You can see it at: ****http:/ quantumparadigm .deviantart. com / #/ d4wmzpw**** (remove spaces). Also, TheRev28 designed the schematics of the **_**SSV Marathon**_**, Task Force Hydra's ship. ****quantumparadigm**** was kind enough to post this on her DA account, and you can find it here: ****http:/ quantumparadigm .deviantart. com /# / d4ww8qe**** (again, remove spaces). Alright, that's enough of me talkin'...here's the next chapter!**

############

_From: Adm. Hackett_  
_To: Councilor Udina; Councilor Tevos; Councilor Valern; Councilor Sparatus; Urdnot Wrex; the Illuminated Primacy_  
_Subj: Reaper Task Force_

_In light of the recent attack on Earth, Commander Shepard and I are proposing the idea of elite task forces to aid in the termination of Reaper and Cerberus forces throughout the galaxy. To promote unity amongst the races, these task forces will consist of multi-species teams. We are requesting one or two of your best troops with special operations experience and training for the first preliminary task force. If you are unable to provide combat troops, support crew such as engineers, pilots and medics would be gladly accepted. _

_I cannot stress how vital these task forces will be during the fight against the Reapers. This is not about taking Earth back. This is about stopping the Reapers. The only way we can defeat them is if we unite our races. Earth was the first to be attacked, but it most certainly will not be the last._

_-Hackett out_

**Camila Bennett**

Staff Lieutenant Camila Bennett chewed on her thumbnail as she paced in her living room. Top of her class at her N7 graduation and the youngest to boot, strong biotic, overall badass marine...and she felt so helpless. ANN blared in the background, reporting the latest news coming from Earth.

The Reapers were here.

Cami reached the edge of her couch, and she slumped into it, feeling defeated. She leaned forward, elbows resting on her lap as she placed her head in her hands and let out a long sigh.

He'd been right all along. Years of warnings, and they had brushed him aside like he was some sort of crazy person high on red sand that they just couldn't deal with. She wondered briefly what the councilors thought of Commander Shepard now. Would they even care that Earth was being attacked?

She was about to punch one of the couch cushions in frustration when her terminal beeped. _Finally_! Two days of waiting for her next assignment, and she had a good feeling that beep meant that the orders had finally come through. She vaulted over the couch, getting to her desk in one long stride and practically slamming down on the button to open her inbox.

_From: Admiral Steven Hackett_  
_To: Staff Lieutenant Camila Bennett_  
_Subj: CLASSIFIED_

Cami frowned. A _classified_ message for _her_? And from Admiral Hackett no less. She tapped her fingers on the desktop, chewing on her bottom lip thoughtfully. What the hell was going on? Shouldn't Hackett be leading the Alliance fleet to Earth to fight the Reapers instead of sending her cryptic messages? After a few seconds of speculating, she finally reached over to open the message.

_CLASSIFIED: Report to the Citadel for reassignment ASAP. Mission details will be covered upon your arrival._

Huh. Well that was a bit odd, but she wasn't one to question orders coming from the brass. She checked the transport schedule and found one leaving to the Citadel in a few hours' time. She would've preferred something sooner as her curiosity over her new, mysterious assignment grew with each second, but it would be enough to get her affairs in order.

She moved the terminal to her bedroom, placing it on her bed while she began stuffing her duffle bag with essentials.

"Admiral Thomas Bennett," she said in the direction of her terminal, and the image of an older man appeared on her screen after a few seconds.

"Lieutenant," he greeted her as he leaned forward in his seat, linking his fingers together and placing his hands on the desk in front of him. His face was stoic with battle-hardened clear blue eyes that could scare a platoon of marines with a simple glare.

"Sir," she acknowledged with a crisp nod.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" he asked, then noticed that she was packing her duffel bag. "What is my favorite daughter up to?"

Cami paused long enough to roll her eyes at him. "I'm your _only _daughter, Dad."

He barked out a laugh, the corner of his eyes crinkling, and it was only during moments like these where the father separated from the soldier. His posture relaxed slightly, and he leaned back in his chair.

"I just got my assignment," she informed him, stuffing the last of her clothing and toiletries into the bag before jumping on her bed and sitting cross-legged with the terminal on her lap.

"Oh?" her father asked, a look of curiosity crossing over his face. "What is it? Where will you be stationed?"

Cami shrugged. "I don't know. I got a message from Admiral Hackett, but it's classified. I'm taking the next transport out to the Citadel to be formally briefed." She paused, looking at her father with narrowed eyes. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

Admiral Bennett straightened in his seat, face reverting back to the stony mask it was before. "Classified mission from Admiral Hackett? It must have something to do with the Reapers attacking."

Cami perked up at the thought of being called in to help with the fight against the Reapers. "I've been sitting here watching the news." She threw him a worried look. "How are you?"

"Safe," he answered, voice softening at her unspoken question. "Don't worry about me. Or your brothers for that matter. Just focus on yourself and your new assignment."

She shook her head. "Dad, I can't just - "

"That's an order, Lieutenant," he interrupted gruffly.

It was only then that she noticed how tired he looked. Having the whole family serving the Alliance was going to be hard...on all of them. She had a feeling her father was wherever Hackett was, and Isaac and Chris were relatively safe with the Fifth Fleet under Alliance command.. But Ben had her a little worried. The last she had heard of the Sixth Fleet was that they were on their way to Terra Nova. No one wanted to believe that the family wouldn't come through fully intact, but that didn't stop the thoughts creeping in now and again.

Cami shook the thoughts from her head, forcing herself to focus on the positive instead. She gave her father a small smile, acknowledging that he would expect nothing less than the best from her. She gave him the only two words she knew he would accept.

"Aye, sir."

############

Cami grabbed her duffle bag and her armor and weapon cases and made her way to the airlock. The ride to the Citadel had been surprisingly uneventful. After hearing about the battle on Earth, she half expected for the transport to be full with people fleeing to the Citadel. Either news of Earth hadn't reached anyone yet or people were too naive to think the Reapers would actually reach the "hub of galactic activity".

"Staff Lieutenant Camila Bennett?"

She had been so lost in her thoughts, she had failed to notice three C-Sec officers waiting outside the airlock for her. The man who'd said her name stepped forward. He was an older man with a blonde crew cut and sharp, blue eyes.

"That's me," she answered with a quick nod.

"Commander Armando Bailey." He waved off her salute and offered his hand instead, which she gladly shook. "I've been asked by Admiral Hackett to escort you to a private comm room. If you'll follow me, please."

Cami frowned as she trailed behind Bailey. The two marines that accompanied him quickly took her luggage and flanked her sides. A personal escort? She felt a little uncomfortable at the sudden attention she was getting but took it in stride. She'd never had the celebrity treatment before, and her curiosity increased at her new assignment. Bailey led her into the nearest C-Sec office where he gestured to the comm room door.

"Admiral Hackett is waiting for you on a secured channel," he said, taking a seat outside the door.

Cami nodded and walked into the room, squinting slightly as her eyes adjusted to the dimness. The holographic image of Admiral Hackett appeared before her, and she quickly saluted.

"Staff Lieutenant," Hackett said, returning the salute.

"Admiral," Cami replied, back stiffening as she remained at attention.

"At ease, Lieutenant." Cami gratefully allowed herself to relax. "I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you here."

"Just a bit curious, sir," she said, hiding her anxiousness behind a veiled mask. Her father would be proud.

"Then I'll cut right to the chase. As you know, the Reapers have arrived, and we're painfully unready for them. In addition to the Reapers, Cerberus has started acting up. I've spoken with Commander Shepard, and he agrees that we need a small, elite force that can quickly respond to any situation that may arise. He also stressed the need that this be a multi-species task force in an effort to get everyone working together. To make a long story short, you have been chosen to represent humanity on this team."

"Me...sir?" Cami asked, unable to hide the surprise she felt from her voice.

"Yes, Lieutenant, you," Hackett said with a note of finality.

Cami remained quiet for a few seconds, mind still processing the information. Her brow furrowed as she took a step forward, hands clasped behind her back. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Granted, Lieutenant."

"With all due respect, sir, but there are hundreds of other soldiers more qualified than I am." She shook her head slightly. "Please, don't get me wrong. I'm extremely honored to be given this assignment, but...why me?"

"All of your instructors in the N7 program spoke highly of you," the Admiral said. "And you received recommendations from a few other Admirals."

"I...I see," she replied, eyes cast down at the mention of recommendations. She briefly wondered if her father had been among those Admirals casting votes, so to speak, as they chose the Alliance representative for this special forces team.

"I can understand your trepidation, Lieutenant," Hackett said, voice softening just the slightest bit. "But believe me when I say that you're the best person we can give to this team."

She looked back up, looking into Hackett's holographic eyes with fierce determination. "Then I proudly accept, sir."

"Good. You'll be provided with a ship, the _SSV Marathon_, and a mixed-species crew. Species that couldn't spare any combat troops but still wanted to participate in the task force have generously provided members to crew the ship. The _Marathon _is in docking bay E-16. The first of your squad should be arriving in a few days."

Cami nodded, and the image of Hackett faded away. She stepped back out into the CSec office, and Bailey immediately stood. He motioned at the two officers, who grabbed her luggage and flanked her again.

A sudden thought crossed her mind, and Cami almost stopped short before forcing herself to continue walking. She blindly followed Bailey though the docks as her mind began to formulate a theory. What if...what if she had been chosen for this team because she was expendable? She was a damn good marine - her recent N7 designation confirmed that. But one of the best?

At 26, she had served in the marines long enough to make a name for herself. Every mission, every assignment, she had always strived for the best. It was how she was brought up. But to be singled out like this? It felt...odd.

She took a deep breath, held her head high and quickened her steps with renewed determination. She couldn't...no, she _wouldn't _fail. She was going to do everything in her power to make this mission a success. Even if it killed her.

"Lieutenant, I present to you the _SSV Marathon_," Bailey announced, stepping aside to give her a full view of her new ship.

Cami felt a warm feeling settle in her stomach. It was a small ship, certainly smaller than anything she had served on. But it was big enough for a team the size of their task force and a skeleton crew. They needed something light and fast, and the _Marathon_looked like it would get the job done. She turned to Bailey who had been watching her with an amused look on his face. She shot him a smile.

"It's perfect."


	3. Valeria Viridi

**A/N - quantumparadigm: Hey guys! Here's the intro chapter for Major Valeria Viridi. She's 326 years old, has been an asari huntress for 259 years, and has a rapier wit. I won't go into many more details than that and let you guys get on with the reading :) **

**Here is her profile shot, too: quantumparadigm. deviantart. com /#/d4woh15 (remove spaces) Enjoy!**

**Valeria Viridi**

"Hey, shut up!" Valeria shouted down the bar. The drunken turian staggered off his chair, vaulting in her direction, mandibles flared in outrage. Valeria stood up from her stool and scowled at him. He thought twice once the insignia on her lapel was clearly visible and sat back down, grumbling. She turned back to the bartender and resumed her perch. "Can you turn up the sound?"

The human male obliged, and the sound filtered over the room, accompanied by terrible images of the turian fleet being decimated by Reaper forces. She tapped her fingers against the counter impatiently, watching the broadcast. The reporter was talking over the feed, relating the 'relevant' pieces of information. It was all just numbers, in the end. And the numbers weren't in the turians' favor.

The video feed cut out, replaced by -SIGNAL LOSS- and Valeria straightened in her seat. Surely it hadn't been live, had it?

_"... unications with the Turian Hierarchy. It's unclear at this point whether the Primarch has been evacuated..."_

By the Goddess... it had been. She ran a hand over the soft fringe of her scalp, gripping the ends. Some poor soul, filming to the bitter end just to get the news out there. She swiped her credit across the scanner and paid for her drinks. She'd had enough, now she wanted answers. Why hadn't her huntresses been deployed yet? With the Reapers invading, there were plenty of other things she could be doing. _Should _be doing. While enjoyable, sitting on the Citadel and drinking fine alcohol wasn't at the top of the list. It wasn't even in the middle.

Her eyes settled on the datapad in her hands as she continued walking through the Presidium to her temporary housing block. The attack on earth had been just as sudden... and just as deadly. The humans were managing to hold out (albeit just barely, and at high cost to their military, which was regrettable considering that their intervention in the Battle of the Citadel had saved the collective asses of the Councilors and everyone aboard the Destiny Ascension, including Valeria herself), and Commander Shepard had escaped the initial attack. His presence on the Citadel just the day before had almost created a scandal with the vicious, pinched-faced human reporter.

She read the contents of the message again, even though she'd memorized the words hours ago.

_From: Doctor Lara Moore_  
_To: Major Valeria Viridi_  
_Subj: Still Alive_

_Val, I'm alive. If I know you, and I'm pretty damn sure I do, you're freaking out about it right now. Even if you won't admit it. Alliance evac shuttles managed to get me and a couple other scientists off the planet before the brunt of the attack. Sorry it's taken so long to get this to you, but everything's been a whirlwind. Commander Shepard and Doctor T'Soni found some blueprints for a device the Protheans were working on. Can't say more right now, mostly because I don't know anything else. I'm being redirected to a research station for the project. I'll try and keep in contact. Please, be safe. -Lara_

_P.S. I know you won't listen to the advice about being safe, but try anyway._

At least she had survived. No time to think about it, now. The little heart clinch didn't entirely go away, but it lessened with each rereading. Research project meant moderately safe, because it meant Lara wouldn't be on the front lines. Not that she really expected the scientist to wield a gun and fight the 'good fight' as humans were fond of saying. But with her planet falling apart around her... well, Val would understand (certainly not condone, but understand) the desire to join the front ranks and give the enemy hell.

Damn. She _wasn't _going to think about it.

She rounded the corner into the housing block and spotted two C-Sec agents standing outside her apartment, flanking her door. She didn't slow her progress as she approached them and arched a tattooed eyebrow as they blocked her path into her own home, temporary though it may be. The one on the right stepped closer to her and Val resisted the urge to recoil from him and blast him in the chest for his rudeness.

"Major Valeria Viridi?" She nodded curtly, not trusting herself to say something that would land her in hot water, provided she wasn't already in it to begin with. "Councillor Tevos would like to see you in her chambers."

An audience with the Councillor? About time she got some answers. And her unit could finally do something besides twiddle their thumbs up their collective asses. Her huntresses were getting restless, especially knowing that a galactic war was breaking out around them. Restless huntresses holed up on a space station had a penchant for getting into bar fights.

She turned on her heel to make her way towards the Citadel Embassies... and noticed the C-Sec agents following her. "I know where Councillor Tevos' chambers are, Lieutenant."

"We've been ordered to escort you, Major."

She eyed the Lieutenant sideways. Odd. Her previous visits to the Councillor had not included bodyguards. Or if they had, she was usually the bodyguard in question, not the one requiring the guarding. She shrugged it off, deciding it wasn't important. C-Sec was probably taking extra precautions, which all things considered, she really couldn't blame them. She'd seen panicky civilians in tight situations enough times to know that all it took was one idiot with a gun to turn a crappy situation into a nightmare.

The embassies loomed ahead, and her guards broke off at the hallway branching off to the various Councilman offices. Orders to escort her, but not allowed beyond the door. Curious. She waved her hand in front of the door access, and it beeped and let her in. The Councillor was sitting at her desk, a steaming cup of tea in her hands.

"Please, Major, have a seat." She gestured to the set of soft chairs in the corner of the room favored by asari. Tevos wanted her to be comfortable, which meant that the news was either extraordinarily classified or terrible. She hoped it was the former.

Surely, Thessia was not under attack. There would have been a vidcast about it. The news would have been all over the Citadel.

And the Councillor would not be simply drinking a cup of tea.

So she walked over to the chairs, chose one, and sat down. The Councillor joined her. "Commander Shepard has proposed an interesting idea, backed by Admiral Hackett. A multi-species special ops task force."

"Do you need me to recommend a list of candidates, Councillor?"

"No, I have made my selections."

Ok... Valeria eyed the Councilor. If the Councillor didn't need her recommendations because she'd already made her selections, then she required something else from Valeria, something Valeria was uniquely qualified to give. Considering her extensive service record, that could mean any number of things but in actuality it really boiled down to one very simple thing when she thought about for longer than 5 seconds. "Who from my unit are you taking?"

The Councillor set her cup down on the small table, and picked up a datapad. She examined the contents before handing it over to Val. "You."

Val accepted the datapad and managed to refrain from plastering the shock rolling through her body on her face. Her? While the idea of working with a special ops squad was rather exciting and she'd finally have the opportunity to do something useful, she couldn't just leave her unit behind, abandoning her responsibilities to them. "Excuse me?"

"If we are going to make this work, and we need this to work, we need our best strike team commandos in these groups. That is you, Valeria."

"I appreciate the compliment, Councillor, but what about my unit? I can't just abandon my duty -"

The Councillor forestalled her questions by raising a hand. "I have already made arrangements for that. Captain Anaiya will be taking over. Your unit is being briefed as we speak. Asari high command has something else in mind for the Commandos currently aboard the Citadel."

Well, sounded like they wouldn't miss out on the action, at least. Still, she'd served with some of them for over a hundred years. She'd miss them, miss leading them. Hopefully she'd have time to treat them all to a round of drinks before she, or they, left.

Val scanned the contents of the datapad... looked like they'd be doing infiltration, espionage, evacs... all kinds of dangerous missions in tight places while the front lines held the ranks and kept the pressure off. Nothing about their first mission yet, but a pervading order to remain on standby until further notice. They'd be taking their orders largely from the Alliance, which made her arch an eyebrow, but it wasn't entirely unexpected. While the batarians had taken the first hit in the initial attack, it had been the humans who rallied the banners. They were an impatient species. In the face of attrition, Val was not surprised that the other species were rallying behind them.

She did quirk an eyebrow when she read the name of their squad.

"Your team will be a trial run of four individuals, to see if this joint task force can function. If it is, more like it will be formed."

"No pressure, then."

Councillor Tevos smiled, understanding. "A lot depends on this, Valeria. That is why I selected you for the task force."

Terrific. Every military eye on her and three others, expecting great things or waiting for them to fail. She wanted to shift in her chair, but resisted the urge. "Who else is on the special ops team?"

"The Alliance has already sent Staff Lieutenant Bennett. A turian Lieutenant by the name of Raethus will also be joining the team, as soon as Sparatus speaks with him. I have as of yet received word about the final addition to the crew. The salarians and the krogan have been contacted, but we will not find out until later."

Well, that should be interesting. A human, a turian, an asari... and either a salarian or a krogan. She preferred the krogan for their brute strength. She had the technical expertise necessary to hack into almost any terminal and unlock practically any door and while Salarians were terrific at infiltration and tech stuff, she rather doubted that they'd face something she couldn't hack herself. Lara had helped her upgrade her omni-tool programs to make the hacking algorithms more adaptive. She was smart for one so young.

"I imagine you have much you need to do," the Councillor rose from her seat, and Val did the same. "The _SSV Marathon _is waiting for you in the docking bay E-16."

Tevos held out her hands and Val accepted them, pressing her forehead against the Councillors as a goodbye. "Make me proud, Valeria."

"I will, Councillor."

It was time to pack, which shouldn't be hard, because she always travelled light. Nearly 300 years as a Commando begged the necessity of few possessions.

-V-

The _SSV Marathon _was small, smaller than she thought it would be considering this was an Alliance sanctioned operation. But it made sense as a small ship was perfect for getting in under the radar and into tight places. Especially if a quick drop off or pick up was required. Considering the scope of the war, the ability to maneuver almost anywhere would likely be the most useful function of the vessel. The scanners recognized her ID and the airlock opened with a small hiss, granting her access. The pilot swivelled in his chair and nodded at her.

"Name's Resh. You must be Valeria, asari Commando. Another squad member, human female, on deck 2. Is your roommate."

Valeria quirked an eyebrow. Sometimes she forgot just how fast salarians could speak. "Good to meet you," she said and hauled her case over her shoulder. "Where's the elevator to deck 2?"

The salarian waved distractedly to an area just behind her. "Behind you, around corner. Will drop you in cargo hold. Living quarters nearby. Your room first door on left."

She walked through short hallway and saw the elevator and entered after sneaking a quick peek at what appeared to be the mess hall, with the armory and medbay on the other end. For being such a small ship, it certainly felt roomy. It had clearly been designed to house a skeleton crew with a small strike team. A part of her wished she knew more about drive core modifications so she could understand how it fit into a seemingly small vessel. One thing about Alliance engineers, they certainly liked to challenge themselves. She laughed softly to herself, remembering Lara hunched over a computer terminal trying to make some equation or other balance.

The cargo hold was noticeably empty, excepting a few crates of basic supplies. Her footsteps echoed throughout the small hold as she walked towards the living quarters. She could see a drell on the far side in engineering, performing some sort of diagnostic. She briefly contemplated interrupting him before deciding that storing her stuff away was more important. Plenty of time to meet the crew later.

The door to her room was open and she peeked through the entryway, curious about her new roommate. The human female was stretched out on the bed on the far side of the room, listening to music through a headset. Her fingers idly drummed against her chest in rhythm with the beat.

"Aiya!" Val called out and Lieutenant Bennett sat up, pulling off her headset and deactivating the device.

"Excuse me?"

"Asari expression, similar to the human greeting 'hey,'" Val replied. "I'm Valeria, though please, just call me Val. Unless you're into formality." She eyed the Lieutenant, hoping she wasn't.

"Staff Lieutenant Camila Bennet, and you can call me Cami." Cami smiled up at Val from her perch on the bed, and Val slung her case onto the other bed in a smooth motion, opposite Cami's.

Val loved sharing a room, with the ability to talk to someone in the wee hours of the morning. The tours where she'd traveled on human cruisers often resulted in her having her own huge, empty quarters. Humans placed a great deal of value in privacy. She'd slept very little on those missions, preferring to spend most of her time in the mess hall or the bridge where most of the crew could be found.

Val sat down on her bed. It was rather stiff, which would be unpleasant. Nothing she couldn't fix within the next day. "So... Task Force Hydra, huh?"

Cami's blue eyes sparkled as she laughed, "Yeah, that's our name, apparently."

"You hungry?" Val asked. She opened her case and started shoving her things into the small chests beneath her bed.

"Starving," Cami answered, rubbing her stomach. "Wanna go grab a bite?"

Val paused in removing her armor to look at Cami, perplexed by the expression. _Grab a bite? _Did she mean literally? That didn't make sense. It must be a human expression. She raked her memory for any instance where Lara, or any of the humans from her missions aboard Alliance vessels, might have said something similar, but came up blank. Though considering she had just asked Cami if she was hungry, it was conceivable, and even made sense, that Cami was asking if she wanted to get some food. That was probably it. "I'm going to have to remember that," she smiled. "Sure."

"Sorry, I should've been more clear," Cami said sheepishly. "It's my first time working with a multi-species group, and it's hard to remember you guys probably won't be able to understand human idioms. Had a good laugh when I met Resh. Asked him if he was our flight jockey. Poor guy had no idea what I was talking about, though he successfully deduced I meant 'pilot'...eventually."

Val laughed. Salarians she understood, and she could perfectly picture the expression on Resh's face. "Don't worry about it, just caught me off guard. Besides, I shouted 'aiya' at you when I first entered." Val grinned. "Perhaps we should compile a dictionary and trade phrases. What are you hungry for?"

"Anything. I have a feeling we'll be traveling for a while, and I'd rather enjoy my last meal before we head out."

Val appraised Cami, head cocked to the side. Cami looked nothing like her youngest sister, skin tone aside, but her personality was strikingly similar to Lelia's. "I know this terrific bar, deep down in Teyseri Ward if you don't mind a bit of walk. They serve an amazing human dish a friend introduced me to. Can't get enough of it."

"You had me at 'bar'," Cami said, jumping off the bed. "Maybe we can pick up a few bottles while we're there...you know, for medicinal purposes," she added with a quick wink.

"Don't forget morale," Val replied with a devious smile. She definitely liked Cami. She reached into the bottom of her neatly packed case and pulled out one of three civilian shirts she owned. Her slim, black pants and combat boots would be fine, but her armored vest was unnecessary for a trip to the bar. Probably. "Just let me get changed really fast."

Cami seemed capable. Perhaps this mission really did have a chance at success after all. She hated to admit it to herself, especially considering humanity's involvement in the Battle of the Citadel, but she had wondered whether or not the human representative would be competent. Not that she believed the Alliance would intentionally send someone who'd bring the collective skill of the squad down so far as to actually hinder them, but she hadn't quite managed to convince herself that they'd send someone as qualified as the Lieutenant. Which was just stupid.

She'd caught sight of the N7 stripe on Cami's armor case in the corner of the room. Commander Shepard sported the same decoration, and if she remembered correctly, N7 was something similar to an asari huntress in terms of proficiency. Which meant the Alliance was giving this their all, along with everyone else.

It also meant the stakes were that much higher. But she had confidence they'd succeed.


	4. Raethus Cerenti

**A/N: Hey, Raethus' picture can be found at ht tp :/ / quantumparadigm. deviantart . com/ #/d4xm66h . Thanks to quantumparadigm for that!**

**So, this is Raethus Cerenti. The 43 year old turian adept. The chapter should take care of everything else you ought to know about him. Enjoy!**

Raethus Cerenti

Pull the first target, then Reave him for an explosion to take down the rest of his team. Follow up with a Shockwave to take down anyone stupid enough to stay standing, then rinse and repeat.

Raethus Cerenti had been following the exact same training sim for the past twenty-five years of his life. The special forces Cabal he served with made every crewmember, regardless of rank, complete the exact same biotic aptitude test every week. To make sure everyone's skills were still sharp.

This was exactly two days after Raethus single-handedly rescued three political prisoners from an illegal batarian incarceration facility. If he got any sharper, people were going to cut themselves on him every time they walked past.

A Pull field yanked five of the simulated enemies towards him, letting Raethus detonate every single one with a lazy Shockwave, throwing his arm out lethargically. The pulse only travelled about three metres, but Raethus was never one to exert himself unnecessarily. Especially on a training exercise he could do in his sleep. The fact he heard some of his shipmates bemoan the difficulties of weekly training made him unsure whether to laugh or simply cry in despair. Admittedly, turians weren't known for their biotics. The ones they did have were invariably mistrusted by their own people, and weak in relative terms when compared to the humans or even krogan. Raethus fitted quite nicely into the first part. He took issue with the second.

As the lights in the training bay turned green, indicating the end of the exercise, he let a small sigh out, flexing his mandibles and talons irritably as the training officer, Hierax, stepped out and raised a brow ridge at Raethus. "You know, Rae, you didn't put much effort in there," Hierax said teasingly, giving Raethus a severe urge to roll his eyes as the biotic blue glow coming off him died away. Of _course _he hadn't put much effort in. Tiring himself just to put on a show for Hierax wasn't going to happen. "Your mnemonics were weak. I should report it up the chain."

"What score did I get?" Raethus snapped, deep, rough voice rolling around the room. At forty-three years old, he knew his voice would at least be able to command some kind of respect from the younger turian. That, combined with the dark red Cerenti clan-paint covering his face. Despite the fact his father, Reni, was now retired, the name of an ex-general still carried weight. Even if Rae sometimes wished it didn't.

"Well…perfect score," Hierax admitted.

"When was the last time I dropped below that?"

"You haven't."

Rae folded his arms, glaring down at Hierax. "Then by all means, report it up the chain. Maybe they'll give me a raise."

"It was a joke, Rae," Hierax said, stretching his mandibles out in a grin that Raethus chose not to return.

"No, it's a waste of time," Raethus said, shaking his head and turning to head to the door. "You've seen what's happening to Palaven." It was a statement, not a question.

"Doing a training exercise isn't going to slow the ship down," Hierax pointed out.

"It doesn't prepare me for the Reapers either," he replied. "Unless they're all going to line up in the same damn pattern every week I fight them." Hierax just shrugged, letting Raethus walk out and head back towards his room, running a hand across the top of his fringe. Palaven was only a few hours away, and he still needed to make sure his Predator handgun was still working, run an armour diagnostic, get food-

"Raethus Cerenti, to the comm. room," the ship VI announced, making Raethus stop in the middle of the corridor and growl quietly to himself. He saw some of the younger crew members walking past smirk as he turned on his heel, but a quick glare caused them to hurry away as he strode back the way he came, silently thanking the spirits that at least it was on the same floor of the ship as him, rather than having to take the damned elevator.

It only took Rae a minute to reach the comm. room, and squeeze himself inside what the crew had affectionately nicknamed "The Cupboard." A circular room just large enough to fit the equipment to show the holograph of his caller, and to project his own. Claustrophobic turians didn't do well in Cabals.

Raethus folded his arms as his caller, another turian, began to materialise…then quickly turned it into a salute as General Victus appeared in front of him. Raethus had always liked Victus, as a man who would lead from the front, and more importantly, make the right call. At least his presence would make the conversation somewhat bearable. "Sir," he said, dropping the salute as Victus waved it away. "I wasn't expecting your call. Have we been diverted to Menae?" Raethus could faintly hear the sounds of battle from Victus' end of the conversation, and knew Palaven's largest moon was quickly becoming the spearhead of the effort to push back the Reapers. Redeployment there suited him just fine.

"Not quite," Victus said, mandibles twitching a fraction as he said that. Raethus knew that twitch well enough to predict what was coming. News that Victus knew Rae wouldn't like. "You're being sent to the Citadel."

"Due respect, sir, am I hell," Raethus replied immediately. "We're one relay jump away from Palaven, and I fully intend on taking back my homeworld."

"You will, Raethus," the turian general replied, folding his arms. His body language suggested he knew the resistance was coming. "You just won't be doing it here."

"Victus, I-"

"These orders came from much, much higher up than me," Victus interrupted, holding up a talon. "I don't know all the details myself. But if you have questions, or you want to shout at somebody, wait until you get to the Citadel. Councillor Sparatus is the one who asked for a name, he'll be the one to brief you."

"A name?" Raethus asked, narrowing his eyes.

"He wanted our best person from special operations," Victus said. "I gave him you."

Raethus opened his mouth for a rebuke, to recommend someone else…then realised it was pointless. Victus wasn't going to be budged. "Fine," he said, managing to keep a civil tongue despite the anger building in him. If it had been anyone but Victus, that most likely wouldn't have happened. "I'll tell him how idiotic this is too."

"I've no doubt," the general chuckled. "He's expecting you in the embassies when you touch down in the Citadel. Victus out."

Raethus just stood for a few seconds, glaring at the comm. unit, before turning and walking out the room with a loud, frustrated growl.

It wasn't shaping up to be a good day.

###############

The flight to the Citadel took far, far longer than Raethus had hoped. Ordinarily, the relay jumps would have only taken three hours at the most, but avoiding systems with Reapers made an eight hour detour. He knew most of the crew were out in the mess or sparring rooms, talking about why they'd been sent back to the Citadel, getting something to eat. All the more reason for him to stay inside his room and get some time to himself.

Even for a biotic, Rae had never been one for socialising. His biotic abilities set him apart from his peers from an early age, and any time he could have had after classes to make up for that were spent studying or practicing biotics. The Cabal programme had snapped him up days after he was born, after the accident on Cherk Sab when his mother and father had been working there, and since then that had been his life. Everything was leading up to the programme. He wasn't required to join full time until he hit military age, but training after school was mandatory. He'd studied hard too, with his father constantly pushing at him. Top of his class in maths, engineering and physics. Didn't change a damn thing. The Cabal programme was always going to be his future.

"Now approaching; Citadel Docking Bays," the VI announced, causing Raethus to fold his advanced engineering book shut and rise to his feet, stretching out. The other crew members were getting off, but the turian embassy had arranged a shuttle for him. Presumably to stop him hopping a ship back to Palaven. Raethus felt a small smile slip onto his face as he stepped out into the corridor, stalking off towards the airlock before a rush of crewmembers appeared. Sparatus never did leave anything to chance.

The ride over, unlike the flight to the Citadel itself, was mercifully brief. The shuttle's driver wasn't talkative, which Rae was grateful for, and the embassy vehicle let them clear security checkpoints in seconds and access the express lanes of traffic. In less than five minutes, Rae was being 'escorted' through the whitewashed embassy halls, and ushered into Sparatus' office as quickly as possible. He couldn't help but be amused at the civil servants bustling about around him, shepherding him across the Citadel and into the office. Whatever Sparatus wanted to see him about, it was clearly as urgent as Victus had suggested.

"I'm not a flight-risk, you know," Raethus said sarcastically as he the office door slid shut behind him, and Sparatus rose out of the chair behind his desk to greet him. "Your best special operations member can make his own way across the Citadel." Rae folded his arms, flashing his sharp teeth in a mocking smile at the other turian. "That's why I'm here, isn't it? As your best special ops member?"

"Victus said you'd be about this enthusiastic," the councillor replied, gesturing to a seat on the other side of his desk, which Raethus took. "Can I get you anything?"

"Clearance to land on Palaven would be nice."

"How about a compromise?" Sparatus said, sitting down in his desk and tapping two talons together. "The crew of your ship will be getting their clearance shortly. But you're going to stay here."

"Yes, I've had both you and Victus tell me that," Raethus replied irritably. "No-one's deemed it necessary to tell me why."

Sparatus leaned back in his chair, swivelling it slightly to look out across the Presidium view he enjoyed from his office. "You've heard of Commander Shepard, I assume?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Rae said. "The man who blew up that batarian system?"

"He's done a lot more than that," Sparatus said, and Raethus could hear what sounded almost like…admiration, in the councillor's voice. "He warned us about the Reapers. And he saved my life."

"Well, sir," Raethus said, after a few seconds of silence. "That's great. But I don't see what it has to do with me."

"Commander Shepard has sent out a request to all friendly races," Sparatus explained, turning his chair back to look at Raethus. "A multi-species task force. A special ops group, one mobile enough to strike where our armies can't, and one strong enough to beat any odds thrown at them."

"So you're sending me on an Alliance initiative," Raethus replied bluntly. "When did we have a war alliance with them, exactly? I thought we were supposed to be saving Palaven, not Earth."

"Shepard is hoping this task force can help do both," Sparatus said. "This war isn't going to be about one species. The goal of this squad is to accomplish missions that help the entire war effort, not just further the aims of one army. All governments involved will have a hand in running this. Shepard believes it's the first step towards a united opposition to the Reapers. And I believe he's right."

"I believe it's not going to work," Raethus snapped. "I'm not indulging some social experiment for the Alliance when Palaven's under attack. My mother and father are there, they-"

"You haven't talked to them in ten years, and the last conversation you had with them before that lasted less than three minutes," Sparatus interjected. Raethus stopped midsentence, just staring at the councillor for a few seconds before replying.

"You know, for one of your most trusted soldiers, you seem to spy on me a lot."

Sparatus shrugged. "It's inconsequential. Whatever your reservations, you have your orders."

"And if it doesn't work out?" Raethus asked.

"Then we admit it's a failure, pull you out, send you on the first ship back to Palaven, and show our commitment to working with other species through this gesture," Sparatus said. "If it does work, then you'll be part of what history may remember as one of the most important things in this war." Raethus gave a cynical chuckle, but the councillor continued regardless. "Only good can come of this, Raethus."

"Isn't that what the quarians told us about the geth at first?" Raethus asked.

"Your new ship, the SSV Marathon, is waiting in the docking bay. You're to meet your new squad members there, and prepare for your first assignment," the councillor explained, standing up and reaching out a hand for Raethus to shake. "Spirits guide you."

Raethus knew better than to not shake Sparatus' hand, but the movement was half-hearted. "Do you know what other species are involved in this?"

"I imagine the asari and salarian governments were asked," Sparatus replied honestly. "Other than that, you'll have to see for yourself."

Raethus simply nodded, turning to make his way out and curling his talons into fists as the civil servant brigade began pushing him along again.

"See for myself," he muttered to himself. "Oh, I'm planning on it."

#################  
The SSV Marathon was small. Coming from a turian who had served on a Cabal since he was eighteen years old, ships infamous for their tiny size and crew, the fact Raethus considered his new ship small was saying something indeed. Obviously the Alliance budget for the mission wasn't big.

A good decision, Raethus thought. At least they wouldn't be wasting too much of their money. The band of civil servants had left him by the airlock, finally, letting him heft his equipment bag with a grunt and reluctantly stride through for decontamination. Thirty seconds of frustrating immobility later, and he was finally through and into the narrow corridor leading to what appeared to be a small mess hall, with eight chairs around the table in the centre of it. Eight people on the ship. That put flying light into perspective.

"Raethus Cerenti?" A high pitched, nasal and clearly salarian voice said behind him, causing Rae to swivel and face a small, green-skinned salarian getting out of the cockpit chair.

"In the flesh," he nodded, unable to help glaring. He'd hoped to just get on board and stay in his room until the task force received orders. "Do you want an autograph?"

"Do not require autograph. Would like to offer assistance -"

"I've had enough people doing that recently," Raethus muttered, thinking about the civil servant brigade again. He rubbed his fringe with a talon, sighing. He was becoming progressively more and more convinced this was some complex nightmare he was yet to wake up from. "You do work here, right?"

"Of course, am pilot."

"And what're you assisting me with?"

"Layout of ship, room assignment. Though details on roommate are unknown. Questions you might have."

Raethus gave the ship controls a pointed look, trying to give the salarian the hint. "Well, I'm sure you're very busy, I don't want to waste either of our time."

Resh just shrugged. "Time not wasted. Elevator behind you, leads to deck two -"

"Like I said, my time as well as yours," Raethus said, growling softly at the salarian's inability to take a hint. "I can find my own way around."

"Nonsense, will only take few seconds. Mess hall located behind you, comm. room opposite airlock. Med bay and armoury on this floor, then-"

Raethus held up a talon. "Can I just stop you there?"

Resh stopped midsentence, blinking. "Of course."

"Thanks," Rae nodded, before turning on his heel and striding towards the elevator, quietly resolving never to visit the pilot again unless his life depended on it.

The elevator doors to the lower deck opened, just in time for Raethus to see a young, slim human woman walking backwards to the elevator, along with a drell and asari standing together near the drive core and talking. Rae's eyes briefly caught on the drell, taking in his dark green and red scales, black eyes, lithe body...then shook himself out of it. Drell were rare enough to deserve a double take, but nothing more. Even a handsome one. "No offense, guys, but this is a _little_ too boring for me. I'll just -" The human turned around, almost walking straight into Rae's chest as she took a surprised step back. "Oh, hi! You must be Raethus!"

"And you must be the cheerleader," he muttered. The Alliance chose to set this whole thing up, then couldn't even bother to send a soldier with experience. The human didn't look much older than twenty. "It's a pleasure." He noticed both the asari and drell look at him when he said that but chose to ignore it.

"Staff Lieutenant Camila Bennett, actually. But you can call me - "

"Let's not worry about names, Staff Lieutenant," Raethus said, pushing past. "I doubt we'll talk much anyway, and it's not like we'll be on here long enough for it to matter."

"Oh...okay..." she mumbled behind him.

"I think I like you already," the asari said, sarcasm obvious as she rolled her eyes at the drell. "Shining beacon of joy and optimism."

"Feeling's mutual," Raethus replied, his sarcasm matching the asari's. "Looks like the asari threw someone to the Alliance too. Guess your councillor stoppedshoving the pole up her ass long enough to give them you."

"He's really pleasant, too," the asari said, looking back towards the human in the elevator.

"I get that a lot," Rae said.

"You? Noooo."

Raethus folded his arms, glaring at the asari. If the sarcasm kept dripping out of her mouth like that, someone was going to need to get a bucket. "Are you trying to impress me with this?"

"Do you want me to impress you?" she replied, giving him a suggestive smirk.

"Um...yeah, I'm just gonna go see if Resh needs anything..." Rae heard Camila saying, along with the elevator doors closing.

"Nice to see you're taking steps to alleviate the whole slutty asari cliche," Raethus said, widening his mandibles in a mocking smile at the asari's smirk. "Very classy."

"Nice to see you buy into that crap," she replied, smirk still on her face.

"Doesn't bother me. Asari aren't my type."

"The way you're eyeing our friend here, I'd have to agree," the asari said, looking over at the drell before giving Rae a knowing look. He inwardly cursed her perceptiveness but kept his voice calm. His sexuality didn't bother him, and the few people who'd told him it bothered _them _quickly found themselves talking from the other side of their face, but he didn't want the squad members getting to know him in such detail. That could foster some kind of attachment, and he really didn't need to deal with that.

"You got a problem with that? Not jealous, are you?" he finally replied.

"Trust me when I say you're not my type, pal." The asari folded her arms. "Not even close."

"Right. You seem more of a krogan girl."

"Ata vi'vahiyara. Krogan don't share their women." Raethus couldn't help but raise an eye ridge at that.

"As fun as this is to listen to, I'd like to get to know my room mate," a dry voice said from the side, making Raethus turn his head to face the drell, presumably the engineer. Who managed to be even more handsome up close. Raethus scratched the back of his head awkwardly. This wasn't exactly professional of him.

"Have at it, Ranje," the asari muttered, turning around and heading back to what Rae presumed were her quarters. "We can go over drive core specs some other day." She shot a baleful look at Raethus, then to the drell. "And good luck!"

"If I'm not back in ten minutes, send a search party," said the drell, chuckling lightly.

"I'll make sure to get a pack of varren on the trail!" the asari shouted over her shoulder, leaving the door to her room open as Raethus turned his full attention on the drell engineer. The asari's line about drive cores basically confirmed his suspicions about that.

"So, you're the engineer," Raethus said, deciding to try a civil conversation with at least one person. "At least we have interests in common other than sarcasm."

"So you like engines, do you?" Ranje asked causally. "Any tech skills?"

"They tried to kick them out of me in biotic classes, but I know my way around a drive core, yeah," Raethus replied honestly. Having someone who shared his interest in engineering could actually be...alright. It would make the time on the _Marathon _bearable, anyway. The engineers on his Cabal were all insufferable futars.

"So a biotic, too," the drell said, almost sounding impressed. "Sounds like I might have the most interesting room mate on the ship."

"Well, seems like I have the nicest," Raethus said, before he could really think. Despite the fact the drell did seem to be the only vaguely likeable person on the ship, he didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

Ranje, however, just smiled. "So you do know what a compliment is."

Rae's tone become gruff again at the insult. "Only because I thought you weren't going to be an asshole."

"And you were doing so well," Ranje grinned, shaking his head. "I'll only give as good as I get, don't you worry."

Some part of Raethus' brain picked up the double entendre in that sentence, but quickly tried to suppress it. "Well, I'm sure you know a few people who can attest to that," he said, twitching a mandible. "So, rooming. Are you quiet?"

"Yes. If I'm in the room, I'm either sleeping or reading about engines. The rest of the time, I'm here in engineering."

"Then you'll do," Raethus nodded. "Shouldn't be more than a week on here, anyway."

"Pessimistic, aren't you?"

"That's what an optimist calls a realist."

"And you think I'm an optimist?"

"You think this task force is going to last more than a week?"

The drell smiled again. "Yes. I'd say we can last at least eight days."

Rae couldn't help a small smile and a chuckle back. "That's cute, drell. And in answer to your question, you're more of an optimist than I am."

"One does one's best." The drell paused, obviously looking for a new topic. "So anyway, I'm Ranje. The asari you were dueling with is Val. It seemed like you two were having fun trading insults."

Rae nodded, flexing his mandibles at the memory of Val. "Yeah, I don't think we're done trading just yet. And Ranje's a nice name." Again, he silently cursed himself. What the fuck was he saying?

"Thank you," Ranje said, with a small incline of his head. "And I'm sure she's not finished, either. Now would you like to see the room?"

"Nothing better to do," Raethus shrugged.

"Room is down the hall to the left. Just next to the showers," Ranje said, pointing over to it before reaching out a smooth, scaled hand for Rae to shake. "Nice meeting you."

"Yeah, same to you," Raethus said. The hand-grip finally broke, letting him turn and walk to the room as fast as he could, flexing his mandibles in annoyance. It wasn't like he hadn't seen a nice, male drell before. The prospect of serving in close proximity to one was probably the thing winding him up. That, and the stupid nature of the mission.

The room was a simple affair, with a light, two single beds, a small desk and vid-screen, and nothing else. "Perfect," Rae muttered to himself, dumping his bag onto the bed and staring at it. It had all his gear and equipment in, armour and weapons, along with casual-wear. He quickly opened it, mulling things over for a second, then closed it again, sitting on the bed and staring up at the roof by himself.  
No point in unpacking, he thought, sighing.

May as well save himself the time of putting everything back in his bag when the whole farce of a task force fell apart.


	5. Urdnot Wrev

**A/N: Howdy, folks! TheRev28 here! As you can probably guess, based on the last three chapters, this is gonna be where I introduce my character: Urdnot Wrev. I won't really go into detail up here, instead letting you guys and gals figure it out by reading the chapter. **

**Also, quantumparadigm has been kind enough to put a face to Wrev. You can check that out here: http:/ quantumparadigm. deviantart. com/gallery/#/d4y1aa9** **(Like always, no spaces)**

**Anywho, I'll stop talking and let you folks enjoy the chapter!**

**Urdnot Wrev**

The desolate wastes of Tuchanka surrounded him. He was cautious, knowing that just about anything out here could kill him if he let it. He won't let it. According to the chief scout, there had been some sightings of...something within the perimeter of the camp, and they had chosen him to clear them out. Probably just some varren or klixen. Probably not worth his time.

Urdnot Wrev shook his head. Even after more than 700 years, his clan still didn't quite trust him. That was the price you paid for being a biotic. Wrev snorted. Since when had he cared about who trusted him? The only one that needed to trust him was himself.

Suddenly, he heard a slight shift of the rubble behind him. Turning instantly and bringing his massive M-300 Claymore to bear, Wrev found himself facing a pack of varren. It was a relatively small pack: maybe half a dozen or so and a young looking alpha leading them. So this is an outcast pack, Wrev thought to himself. The misfits that weren't cut out for their original pack. He just shook his head. He couldn't believe that the scouts would even worry about something this insignificant. That's what you get for making a 300-year-old the chief scout. The kids these days don't know what real danger is.

The small pack started to circle him, trying to surround the krogan. Well, Wrev wasn't stupid. Deciding not to waste any more time, Wrev charged the varren that has stayed in front of him. A single shot from his Claymore sent the varren back to the Void. Once he made a move, the rest of the pack abandoned all strategy and charged him. Good, he was hoping this would get fun.

He quickly popped another heat sink into the shotgun, then Threw the nearest varren with over 1000N of force. A second varren fell to his Claymore, leaving him with four varren left: one of which was the alpha. After managing to kill three of their brothers in under 10 seconds, the pack backed off a little bit. They hadn't faced a fully armed krogan before, and if Wrev could help it, they never would again.

Reloading his shotgun, he sent a Warp at the alpha varren. The Warp, while powerful, didn't carry the full weight of Wrev's mind behind it. He didn't want to kill it with Warp...he had something else in store. While waiting for his biotics to cool down, he took out another varren with the Claymore, bringing the total down to three.

The other two were huddled close to the alpha, hoping he could protect them. Wrev grinned a maniacal grin. They were right where he wanted them.

Glowing blue, the battlemaster sent the strongest Throw he could-topping out at around 2000N-towards the alpha varren, who was still being affected by the Warp.

The biotic explosion was magnificent.

Sparing a quick chuckle, Wrev called back to the camp, wanting to give the chief scout a piece of his mind.

"What is it, Wrev?" Urdnot Durek, the chief scout, asked. "I'm still picking up things on the scanners."

"I just took care of the problem," Wrev said, trying to keep the contempt out of his voice. He still couldn't believe that this whelp was chief scout. "So check your scans again."

"I did," Durek said, sounding angry, "and I've still got movement farther out. So go check it out."

"If you had a quad, you'd come check it out yourself."

"Watch yourself, Wrev. Clan Leader Wrex told me to keep a close eye on our perimeter, and he told me to send whoever I felt necessary to check things out." Wrev let out a low growl. Of course Durek would know that he can't say no to Wrex.

Sometimes having the same mother as the Clan Leader was more trouble than it's worth.

"Fine. Just send me the NavPoint." Durek didn't bother to answer, just sending the point to Wrev's omni-tool. Glancing down at his wrist, he saw that Durek was sending him to the outer edge of the perimeter: almost a mile away.

Maybe there would be something to kill along the way.

Unfortunately, Wrev had no such luck. The mile walk to the target area yielded nothing more than the usual rubble found all over Tuchanka. So now Wrev was simply irritated. He not only thought that Durek was wasting his time, but also felt that there should have been at least _something_ in the area. This was Tuchanka, after all.

He hadn't seen a single piece of wildlife for over a mile. Living on Tuchanka for over 500 years, one grew used to being constantly aware of the surroundings. Hell, one got used to always having something trying to kill you. But for the past mile, Wrev hadn't seen hide nor hair of any of the native wildlife. Something about this didn't seem right. He was right around the NavPoint that Durek sent him, but there weren't any varren or klixen around.

Something must have scared them off.

Wrev stopped dead in his tracks, remaining absolutely motionless. Straining all of his senses, he tried to figure out what could have scared the wildlife - especially _Tuchanka_ wildlife - away.

There! He quickly turned to his right and brought up his Claymore.

There was nothing there. Scanning the area again, Wrev quietly growled to himself. He could have sworn that he had heard something over here. A twig breaking, or some ground shifting under a foot step. But there was nothing there.

A low moan from behind alerted Wrev to the presence of another being. He whipped around, coming face to face with...he didn't know what. It looked kind of like a human, though Wrev had never seen a human up close. Hell, the only human he had ever seen was Commander Shepard, and that was because the commander had been here about some tank-bred. To be honest, Wrev hadn't cared that much. Now, he was starting to wish he had paid attention.  
This...thing...looked vaguely human. At least in the sense that it had two legs, two arms, a head, and five-fingered hands. But he was almost certain that human skin isn't so grey and that it shouldn't have those blue...things.

The thing moaned again and started to lurch towards Wrev. Not giving another moment's thought, he simply removed its head with his Claymore. As the echoes of his shot died away, he heard more moans. From every direction. Doing a quick spin around, Wrev saw that he was, in fact, surrounded. If anything, that just made him angry. Mostly angry at the fact that he hadn't noticed them surrounding him.

Seeing as there were about ten of these things, Wrev decided that his Claymore might be a little too slow. Good thing he carried a back up. Storing the Claymore at the small of his back, he reached over his right shoulder for the Revenant on his back. Looking around at the things on all sides, Wrev just gave a vicious smile. Hopefully this would be more fun than those varren.

The things had been steadily advancing towards him, and Wrev felt that now was the time to take matters into his own hands. Not seeing any real difference between directions, he charged towards the north, unleashing the full fury of the Revenant as he went. The thing directly ahead of him got torn to shreds by the hail of gunfire, so he diverted to the one next to it. It took a Throw, sending it flying a good ten meters. Wrev swore he heard something break.

He continued charging through the circle of things, breaking free from the middle. Then he turned around and faced the remaining eight. Rather than charge this time, Wrev just popped a new thermal clip into his Revenant. As the things continued to advance at their slow pace, he simply chuckled, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The rounds started tearing into the advancing creatures. With the way they were advancing, Wrev almost didn't have to aim. Nearly every shot impacted one of the creatures, meaning that sixty rounds later, all eight were dead.

Too bad he hadn't heard the three others advancing behind him during his barrage.

As he was replacing the thermal clip, he felt a set of claws rake down his back. This was no mean feat, considering that said claws had to rip through his armor first. He turned to see a different clawed hand starting a swipe. It swept across his face, leaving five trails of blood in their wake. The third creature actually jumped on Wrev's back and started clawing at his hump.

Blood was flowing. The rage was coming.

Urdnot Wrev's mind went blank. But instead of the blinding, white-hot anger that other krogan knew as blood rage, Wrev's mind turned to ice. The pain disappeared, but the focus remained and intensified. This was the result of a decade of training as a whelp with the shaman.

As a biotic, focus is key, but as a krogan, blood rage gives access to near-unstoppable power. If a krogan biotic can learn to control the blood rage, there is very little in the galaxy that can stop him.

Wrev had learned that control. And he had been mastering it for the last 600 years.

Focusing back on the fight, Wrev still needed to get these things off him. Good thing he had just the trick. He focused on the biotic barrier that he kept in place during combat and Warped it. This detonated the barrier, sending the explosion outward while leaving him unharmed.

The explosion ripped the creatures to shreds.

As he stood there in the wake of the detonation, breathing deeply, he could feel his injuries starting to heal already. The rage was receding, but a sudden bullet ripping through his shoulder brought it right back. Turning around, Wrev saw three different creatures facing him. Because of the blood rage, he was not focusing on what they looked like, but he could tell that they were different than the ones from before. These things had krogan-like humps on their backs, and what looked to be a gun built directly into their arm.

Good, he thought. More of a challenge.

Wrev got his barrier back up, preventing any more of the incoming shots from doing any damage. In blood rage, nothing short of an anti-materiel rifle could pierce his barrier. Now that he didn't have to worry about taking damage, he could focus on offense. He hurled three Throws-each topping at 2500N-in rapid succession. Each Throw connected, sending the new creatures flying backwards. However, they got up, giving Wrev a new respect for these enemies.

Wrev knew that his rage wouldn't last much longer, so he decided to get as many biotic attacks out as he can. He sent a Warp at the one on the left, and the shifting field was so strong that it ripped the creature apart at the molecular level. It seemed to vaporize in an instant, leaving less than a handful of ash. Wrev let out a short bark of laughter: That had never happened before. Either he was still getting stronger, or these things weren't very well put together.

Deciding to have some fun with the last two, he replaced his Revenant for his Claymore and charged the enemies. As he was running, he sent another Warp at the one on the right. It ended with similar results. The final creature lost its head and most of its upper torso to a point blank Claymore shot.

Finally, the blood rage dissipated. He could feel the various wounds he sustained fighting those creatures, but it was nothing new to him. Looking around, Wrev didn't see anything else, and he soon got a call from Durek.

"Wrev, get back to the camp," Durek said. "I'm not picking anything else up, and the Clan Leader wants to speak to you."

"I'm on my way," Wrev said. Not wasting any time, he started his trek back to the camp.

At the home of Clan Urdnot, Wrev headed up to the communications room. The single screen showed the face of Urdnot Wrex, his Clan Leader and older brother.

"Wrev."

"Wrex."

"Looks like you had some fun out on the perimeter," Wrex said, noting the newest marks on Wrev's bright pink armor.

"Ran into some creatures out there," he said. "Looked kind of like humans, but they were all wrong. Grey with these blue lights all over them." A look of anger flashed across Wrex's face, and Wrev could hear a low growl.

"Husks. So the Reapers are coming to Tuchanka. Well, I'm glad you've fought some of them because I have an assignment for you."

"What kind of assignment?" Wrev asked, sounding suspicious.

"Commander Shepard has asked for my best warrior to be part of some special operations team: something Hydra. I gave him your name. The ship should be there soon to pick you up."

"And why have you promised me to the humans?"

"Because they need you," Wrex said, simply. "Think of it this way: who else are they gonna have who has over 700 years experience living on Tuchanka? And I'm not giving you a choice, brother. Show them that the krogan are a respectable species once again."

Wrev growled a little bit, but he knew better than to question a direct order. "Yes, Clan Leader. I'll show them what a real krogan is."

"Good, now get ready. Like I said, they'll be there soon. Try not to kill any of them; it'll look bad." And with that, Wrex's picture cut out. Wrev growled again, not liking this turn of events, but this was his duty. Besides, he knew that he was the best warrior to come out of Clan Urdnot since Wrex. If anyone could show those humans how to really fight, it was Wrev.

A half hour later, he had what few possessions he owns in a small bag and stood waiting by the landing pad. A rather small ship, apparently called the _SSV Marathon_, touched down in front of him. He stood in front of the cargo door, waiting for it to open, but he wasn't prepared for what he saw when it does.

A female human, an asari, and a _turian_ were all standing in the entrance, doing their best to look professional and intimidating.

These whelps will be dead in a week.


	6. This Is My Krantt?

**A/N - TheRev28: Welcome back, folks! So last chapter saw the last of the introduction chapters, which means we're finally gonna start the missions...next chapter. This one will show Wrev's first interactions with the squad and crew of the **_**Marathon**_**, along with the preparation for the first mission. Also, a quick note on POVs. The story will keep a third person limited POV, but the perspective will switch usually every chapter. Whoever does the A/N will indicate whose POV the chapter is from, meaning that this one is another dose of Urdnot Wrev. **

**Very random note, but it's worth a mention. As part of our constant "research", the four of us recently completed a Gold mission. It was...an experience. I remember people saying that the brute in chapter one took a lot of punishment before dying. That's because it was Gold ;)**

**Anywho, enough of that. Enjoy!**

**This is My Krannt?**

A scowl covered Wrev's face. The three were just standing at the mouth of the cargo hold, and it looked like they were trying to appear intimidating. It wasn't really working. Wrev could see that the small human female was seeing a live krogan for the first time: It was the look in her eyes, her stance, a thousand little things that one learns to pick up after 700 years. She looked young...then again, every species looked young to Wrev. But this one appeared to be little more than a whelp. The asari was looking around the landing pad with a seemingly bored look, but Wrev noticed that her eyes were constantly moving, like she didn't feel safe here. He gave her points for that. It looked like she had outgrown her maiden days-or was getting close to that point. If Wrev had to guess, he'd say she was a commando or a huntress. The turian - and Wrev still couldn't believe that a turian had the quad to show his face on Tuchanka - had an intense look about him. Like the asari, he didn't trust his surroundings, but he wasn't trying to hide that. From what little Wrev could read from turian facial features, he could see the contempt written large across the turian's face, matching Wrev's own. At least this turian wasn't a complete idiot.  
After a few moments of the two parties eying each other, the asari was the first to speak up.

"Hey krogan, move your ass!" Wrev's scowl deepened as he let out a low growl, but he had to give the asari credit: most sapient creatures wouldn't talk to a krogan like that. Again, Wrev's impression of the asari raised ever so slightly.

"Watch your tongue, asari," Wrev said, walking towards the open door. "I've promised Wrex that I'd try not to kill any of you, but I think he'd understand if I didn't keep that promise." He saw her look at him and arch an eyebrow.

"If you think you can take me, bring it," she said. "Otherwise shut up and get on the damn ship."  
That made Wrev pause. Stopping in his tracks, he gave the asari another look. Her stance hadn't changed, but her eyes had stopped moving, focusing solely on him. Either she had a death wish, or she was confident in her abilities. The way he saw it, she would be an interesting one to work with either way. The scowl left his face, but before he could say anything, the human female cleared her throat, making Wrev and the asari turn to look at her. With the focus on her, she took a step forward, placing herself between Wrev and the asari.

"Hi, Staff Lieutenant Camila Bennett," she said, extending her right hand. There was nothing in the hand that Wrev could see. So she was showing that she had no weapon in that hand? Well, if she was approaching a krogan without any weapons, she was either naive or stupid. Neither of those sounded like good options.

"You're supposed to shake it," the asari whispered, just loud enough for Wrev to hear it. He stood still, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Right...human habit, sorry," the human said, lowering the hand. "So..."

It was at this point that the turian grunted and walked away, muttering under his breath. Good, Wrev didn't want that turian around much longer anyway. Though they would apparently be working together. Wrex hadn't mentioned this in the call. He had said that he was giving Wrev to the humans, not a human, an asari, and a turian. But Wrev was given an order, so he'd follow it. But when this ended up failing, he wouldn't hesitate to rub it in Wrex's face.

"I'm Val. Should we just call you krogan?" the asari asked. Then she paused and seemed to eye Wrev. "Or pinky?" The scowl immediately returned to Wrev's face, and he heard a stifled laugh come from the human. After turning his glare on her, she managed to revert to some semblance of stoicism. With a final piercing look, he focused back on the asari.

"Urdnot Wrev. And I would think long and hard about any future comments on my armor. It's older than you are, asari."

"Whatever you say...Pinky," she replied with a smirk. She was either very brave or very stupid. Sometimes Wrev had a hard time differentiating the two.

"So when do I get to kill something?" Wrev asked, deciding to ignore the asari's trite comment.

"Glad you brought that up, Mr...Wrev," the human said, taking back the role of spokesperson. He saw the asari wince and shake her head. "We're actually on our way to Noveria. Alliance command has picked up some - "

"Drop the formalities, human. Just tell me when we get there. Until then, leave me be." With that, he started walking up the ramp into the ship.

"Don't you want to know where - " Wrev brushed past her, not really caring what she had to say.

"Hey Pinky! In case you were wondering, your room is the second door on the right," the asari said as he was walking deeper into the ship. Wrev didn't bother with a response, but he heard peals of laughter as he approached the door to his apparent room. Opening the door, Wrev was met by an odd sight: another human female facing away from him. This one seemed to be around the same height as the one who greeted him, but since this one wasn't in armor, he couldn't really tell. She had a lot of that hair stuff that humans seemed to have, and it was a sort of golden blonde color.

When she turned at the sound of the door opening, Wrev saw apprehension in her brown eyes. He didn't think any less of her for it, though. Most people would be apprehensive if a krogan battlemaster suddenly walked into their room. But Wrev waited eagerly to see how she dealt with it.

"Well, erm...they didn't say I was rooming with a krogan," the human said with a forced chuckle. Then she repeated the same gesture that the other human had done, extending her hand out in front of her. "Hey. I'm Jess."

Well, Wrev was honestly surprised. He was expecting some sort of surprised reaction. This human managed to recover her wits quickly, much faster than Wrev was expecting. Though she did that same hand thing that the other human had done. Wrev still didn't understand the point of it. Was it supposed to show trust? That seemed like the most naive thing Wrev had heard of. Trust is earned, not assumed. He didn't trust this human, so he simply crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Urdnot Wrev," he said, feeling she deserved that much.

"You hear of a handshake, Urdnot?" the human asked, keeping her outstretched. She was a persistent one, Wrev gave her that. Such a blunt response usually put off conversation, but this one was keeping at it.

"It's 'Wrev'. And no."

"Well, _Wrev_, you take one person's outstretched hand in yours and shake it up and down." She paused, and Wrev could see her eying his large muscles. "Just don't wrench my arm off."

"Alright, human, I'll humor you," Wrev said, deciding that this human had earned that much. With exaggerated carefulness, he extended his own hand and grasped hers. With the odd ritual done, Wrev took a step back and re-crossed his arms. "Happy?"

"Always," she said with a grin. "How about you, Wrev? Excited to be here?"

"I'm here because Clan Leader Wrex ordered it," he replied. "But if there's killing to be done, I can't complain."

"Riiight." She went and sat on her bed. "Well, I'm the ship's doctor, so the less people I kill, the better." A small scowl flashed across Wrev's face. Great...a doctor. He would get stuck with the doctor. Just like most krogan, Wrev had no trust for them.

"If I have to share a room, can it be someone other than a doctor?" he asked. For some reason, she just chuckled.

"Sure. Would you rather share with the turian or salarian?" Of _would_be his options. Well, of the three, Wrev would take a human, even if she was a doctor. He remained silent, but let the scowl come back. His silence was all the answer she needed. "Do all krogan have this way with women?"

"Yes, seeing as our fertile females are the most valuable things on Tuchanka."

She folded her arms across her chest, mirroring Wrev's own stance. "So you treat them like an asshole?"

"No. But are you a krogan female?"

"My medical degree suggests no."

"Exactly." Wrev paused. "I may not trust doctors, but you're better than a salarian or a turian."

"Well, thank Christ for that. I was worried for a second." Wrev's scowl deepened, but that only made the human female smile. Either she was very, very stupid, or brave beyond her years. "You know, if you keep this up, I'm gonna start sticking the needle in _very _hard when I'm stitching up your bullet wounds."

"Then that's another advantage of krogan regeneration," Wrev said. Then he paused, finally deciding that he'd had enough of this. "You want to keep this up, human? Or can I have some peace?"

"Oh, excuse me for being a jerk."

Wrev felt himself reach the end of his patience. He had put up with this human's banter because it was a novelty. Most people hardly had the quad to even _talk_ to a krogan, let alone be _sarcastic _to one, so Wrev tended to respect people who could. But that respect only went so far, and this human had reached it. Wrev scowled even deeper and let a low growl escape his throat. Luckily for her, the human seemed to catch the hint.

"Alright, Urdnot, message received," she said, lying down on her bed and ignoring him. He would have preferred her leaving, but at least she stopped talking.

-W-

Wrev spent the next hour simply sitting in his room. Luckily, the doctor left, saying she had something to do in the med bay. Wrev was simply glad she was gone. Even when she stayed silent, Wrev was aware of her presence. Still, she was better than a salarian, or-Vaul forbid-a turian. Why did it seem like everyone on this "task force" was chosen specifically to annoy him. The human was too fresh, the asari was too disrespectful, and the turian was a turian.  
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"What?"

"Hey, Pinky," the asari said through the door. "We finally got details about our first mission, and we would _love_to have your input." Wrev easily heard the sarcasm dripping from her voice, making him growl. Like he thought, too disrespectful. Unfortunately, Wrev was one of the few krogan who knew that battles could be won and lost in the planning stage, meaning he had to be there. Growling even louder, he got off his bed and opened the door. The asari was standing there with her arms folded across her chest and tapping one foot. She wasn't wearing her armor, instead wearing black pants and a black tank top. Wrev hadn't taken his armor off.

"Let's get this over with so I can kill something," Wrev said, starting to walk towards the elevator. He hadn't explored the ship yet, but he knew an elevator when he saw one. The asari followed behind him.

"That all you care about?" she asked, actually sounding curious behind the sarcastic delivery.

"It's what I'm here for," Wrev said, stepping into the elevator. The asari followed him in, and the door closed.

"Really? I thought you were here 'cause Wrex wanted you here."

Wrev glared down at her, wondering why she was still talking. "And why do you think Wrex wanted me here?"

"He knew we needed your charm," she said, flippantly.

"Anything to help balance that tongue of yours."

"Are you ever anything but a jackass?" she asked, actually sounding slightly incensed. Huh, so Wrev _could_get on her nerves. He grinned internally.

"Are you ever anything but annoying?" he retorted.

"To people who aren't jackasses, sure."

"And I can be nice to people who aren't annoying."

"For some reason, I just don't believe you," the asari said, giving Wrev a look.

"Nor I you."

"Guess we're even, then." There was a distinct pause as the elevator continued its upward travel. Finally, as the door opened, the asari spoke up again. "Doesn't mean I'm going to stop calling you 'Pinky.'"

"Then I get to keep being a jackass," Wrev said, stepping out of the lift. He heard the asari's footsteps follow closely behind. Wrev took a quick moment to study the upper deck of the ship. The elevator opened up to a rather large room with a single table in the middle. This was probably the mess hall. On the far side of the room were two doors, but Wrev couldn't really guess what each one was. Though when he thought about it, one of them was probably the med bay.

"Alright, fair enough. Now let's get going; the others are waiting for us," the asari said, walking past him to sit at the table next to the human. This was the first time that Wrev noticed the other two members of the team sitting there. Both the human and turian were wearing non-combat attire, making Wrev the only one in armor. Simply grunting, Wrev followed her and took a seat as far away from the turian as possible. Unfortunately, that put him in between the human and asari. Well...anything was better than a turian.

"Hey! Glad to see everyone's here," the human said, looking around the table. Why wasn't Wrev surprised that she would be doing the mission brief? "I just got the mission report from Admiral Hackett." She leaned forward, scrolling down on a datapad. The asari leaned across the table to get a better look.

"About time," she said. "What's the plan?"

"We're going to Noveria, apparently. To collect some intel." She handed the datapad to the asari before standing up and pacing in front of them. What a wonderfully telling action. She couldn't even sit still long enough to get three sentences out. Meanwhile, the turian gave a little moan at the mention of the planet they'd be going to. The asari threw an annoyed glance at him, which he returned with a sharp glare.

"Did they tell us what kind of intel we're gathering? Or are we going in blind?" the asari asked, looking away from the turian.

"No specifics," the human said, seemingly oblivious to the glares that were just traded. "Alliance command reported the base going dark about five hours ago. They need us to go in and investigate."

"So are we just supposed to grab the whole database?" The asari started messing around with her omni-tool. The human simply shrugged, stopping her pacing and gripping the back of her chair.

"Whatever information's down there, it seems like they were on the verge of a major breakthrough before the base stopped reporting. Like I said, no specifics...but it's pretty important shit from the looks of it."

So there's no intel, and we don't know what we're looking for, Wrev thought. This is pathetic. He had been hoping (but not expecting) some sort of professionalism, but that was obviously too much to ask for.

"Wonderful...this is starting to sound like a typical krogan operation," Wrev said, unable to keep the scathing tone from his voice.

"Do we at least know what the base was researching, or is that classified, too?" the asari asked, also sounding irritated at the lack of information.

"Classified, unfortunately," the human said with a sigh, taking her seat again.

"So they don't even trust their spec ops teams. Perfect," the turian said. As much as it pained Wrev to admit it, he agreed with the turian. The asari turned off her omni-tool with a slight look of disgust.

"This is our first mission. It's not that they don't trust us, it's just that - "

"No, that's _exactly _what it is."

Wrev caught the human's look to the asari for help. Just like he thought: weak.

"Stuff it, Rae," the asari said, noticing the human's pleading look. "Would your government share classified research with non-turians? _Ina*_. So back off."

"Sure, just not with some bitchy asari and the little girl she's protecting."

That elicited quite a response from the asari. For a moment, Wrev thought violence would break out, but the human interrupted before the fun could start.

"Look, I know the lack of information is a bit frustrating, but we'll find out what's going on soon enough," she said, trying to placate everyone. "The Alliance wouldn't have given us this mission if they didn't trust us."

"Oh, they trust us," Wrev said in the same scathing tone from before. "Enough to do the work they can't send a real team for."

Wrev saw a flash of anger across the human's face, and for a moment - just a moment - he thought that she would try to assert the dominance she felt she had. She didn't. Wrev simply shook his head, embarrassed that his brother would give him to a team like this.

"Even more reason for this mission to be successful," she said after the anger passed. "We can can only go up from here, right?"

"So where are we landing?" the asari asked, obviously trying to get the briefing under control. "Is there a schematic of the base we can look at? That would help to find the likeliest locations for research and entry points." The human nodded, powering up her omni-tool and displaying a 3D image of the base.

"This is all I have. Here's the landing pad," she said, pointing to a large open area. "Up these stairs leads to a hallway with a small room at the end. Around the corner over here..." the image rotated as if following her words,"...are stairs that lead to a lower level which can also be accessed from the outside if you take a ramp down from the landing pad. This opens up to a larger room, basically L-shaped with an outer corridor. Easy mission, nothing too big. I'm sure we'll be in and out of there in an hour, two tops."

"Nothing's ever that simple," Wrev said with a scowl.

"I have to agree with Pinky," the asari said, causing Wrev to let out a low growl. "There's probably an underground facility not shown on the map."

"Nothing we can't handle, right?" the human asked with a smile, shutting off her omni-tool. Everyone returned her smile with a skeptical look. "Come on, guys! Our first real mission! It's gonna be fun!"

"Because shooting people is my idea of a good time," the turian said, rather darkly. He'd obviously never shot the right people.

"It is for me," Wrev said, mostly to rile up the turian. He shot Wrev a glare, but Wrev ignored it.

"We need to figure out _why _the base went dark," the asari said, ignoring the little exchange. "Short of catastrophic power failure, I doubt it's going to be a walk in the park."

"You think something happened?" the human asked, naively. Of course something happened. Why else would the humans be sending us in? "You know, Admiral Hackett mentioned that they've been having a lot of trouble with Cerberus."

"Terrific. As if the Reapers weren't bad enough."

"Yep." She looked around at everyone sitting at the table. "Game plan?"

"Go in and kill anything that gets in our way," Wrev said, simply.

"Ha, okay, that's good," the human said, obviously a little uncomfortable at Wrev's direct response. "Got anything more specific? This is the first time we're working together. We don't even know each other's strengths...or weaknesses."

"We should infiltrate at the landing pad and work our way in. Doors are probably locked, but we should be able to hack past them." The asari paused, looking at each member of the squad in turn. "Judging by the fact that all of you have implants, I'd say we're all biotic. Pinky favors that tank of a shotgun he brought on board and I'm a sniper, but I carry a pistol at all times. You two," she said, gesturing at the human and turian, "are the unknowns in terms of weapons."

"Shotgun and pistol," the human replied. "I'm more of an up-close-and-personal kind of girl. Specialize in Charge and Nova." Huh...Wrev never would have pegged her as a vanguard. That could get...interesting.

"I'll try not to blow your head off, then," the asari said, jokingly. "Probably wouldn't look good on the report. I can do a lot of the standard biotic attacks, but lay down a mean stasis bubble. Your turn, Pinky."

"Claymore and Revenant," Wrev said, not even bothering to growl at the asari's nickname. "Biotic wise, I stick to warp and throw, but I can also detonate my barrier if enemies get too close. Also, if you see me in blood rage, stay out of my way...I might not be able to stop myself."

The asari just rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't be a problem. Rae?"

"Pull, Reave and Shockwave," the turian said. "The rest get shot in the head with my Predator. You see someone getting Pulled, get out of the way, cos I'm detonating them regardless of where you are."

"I'll keep that in mind before I go charging in." the human said. Then she looked over at the asari. "Looks like you'll be the one staying behind and covering me and Wrev."

"And it looks like Rae and I will get _plenty _of time to get to know each other. He seems like such a team-player." She shot a disapproving glare at the turian in question.

"Great. I'm sure your warm personality will help on Noveria," the turian replied, rolling his eyes.

"Probably not with that freezing personality of yours."

"Good effort."

Unfortunately, the human cleared her throat, interrupting the other two before anything good could happen. "Okay, so we go in, investigate the facility, grab the intel, and get out...all the while killing any bad guys. Seems simple enough."

"We should move in quietly, so as not to tip off anyone to our presence," the asari said with a nod.

"Good idea. We shouldn't use our guns unless we absolutely have to. Keep the communications to our comm units."

The asari looked around the table, seeming to appraise the team. "Sounds like a solid plan. Time to gear up." With that, she got up from table and started walking to towards one of the doors Wrev had noticed earlier. If he had to guess, he'd say that was the armory. Seeing her get up, the human and turian quickly followed. Wrev, being the only one already wearing his armor, simply got up and entered the elevator. His guns were still in his room.

As the elevator descended into the cargo hold, Wrev thought back to briefing that had just occurred. That was supposed to be his krannt? That was no krannt.

That was a disgrace.

* _ina_ : 'no' in asari


	7. I Have No Idea

**A/N: Kassandra Black - Hi, guys! Well, Task Force Hydra is finally going on their first mission. How will it end? Read on to find out! :)**

**I Have No Idea**

Cami ran her gloved hands over the nicks in her helmet. She resisted the urge to bite down on her bottom lip. She was definitely nervous. This was their first mission together, and she needed it to succeed. She glanced at her companions as they milled around in the cargo hold waiting for Resh to drop them onto the Noveria base.

Val had been nothing but nice to her. From the moment they first met, she had felt an instant connection with the asari. Cami had never worked with any species other than humans, and Val had quickly set her at ease during their lunch together. That was more than she could say for the other two members of the team.

Raethus had basically brushed her off, barely acknowledging her presence on the ship. The turian had spent the better part of the past couple of days hanging out in Engineering with Ranje and had hardly said two words to her.

And Wrev...well, Cami didn't really know what to think of the krogan. She'd never met a krogan before and was certainly impressed with his strength and stature. But pink armor? The color belied Wrev's true toughness, though she assumed that was the main reason he wore it.

"Setting ship down now, depressurizing cargo bay," Resh suddenly announced, pulling Cami from her thoughts.

"How's it look, Resh?" she asked, clicking her helmet in place as she felt the ship touch down.

She noticed that the others weren't wearing helmets, though Val had an interface for her left eye, and was about to comment on that when Resh spoke up again.

"Base very quiet," he replied. "No landing sequence coordination. Implications ominous. Be safe."

"Alright, guys. You heard the man...er, salarian...whatever. Keep communications to the comm units. No shooting unless we absolutely have to." Cami checked her weapons one last time before they all jumped onto the landing pad.

"Thanks for the reminder, Staff Lieutenant," Raethus spoke up. "It's not like any of us have been doing this more than twice as long as you have."

Cami let out a small sigh and chose to ignore the jab, refusing to get into an argument so early in the mission. Her squadmates had done nothing but argue amongst themselves from the moment they set foot on the ship. She had avoided it thus far, preferring to play the peacemaker than to join in.

She saw the sidelong glance that Val gave to Raethus. "And at least 15 times longer than _you_."

"Over 700 years," Wrev's booming voice joined in. "More than the three of you combined." There was a short pause. "Doubled."

"Did I say twice as long? My mistake. I meant twice as well," Raethus countered.

Cami resisted the urge to let out another exasperated sigh. For as much as Wrev and Raethus didn't talk, when it came to insults, they just couldn't keep their mouth shut. Val fell into step with her, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a look as if to tell her that Raethus was an ass and to ignore whatever he said. Cami gave her a slight nod, already coming to that conclusion on her own.

"Thresher Maw on foot, turian. It takes your kind a team of vehicles."

"Neutralizing an entire species, krogan. It takes your kind...well, I can't find a match for that."

Cami almost gasped out loud. She spun around to face them, practically seeing waves of tension bouncing between the turian and the krogan. Raethus leaned back on his hip, a smirk on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest. Wrev fisted his hands at his sides, and Cami had a horrible feeling that the verbal taunts were over. It was going to get physical. She remained alert, ready to throw up a barrier between the two should the need arise. And it felt like the need was quickly rising.

Val, sensing the danger as well, immediately stepped in front of Wrev. "He deserves every kind of hell for that line. But not now." She waited for Wrev's reluctant nod before turning to Raethus. "Do us all a favor and save your sharp tongue for the enemy. Probably works better than your gun."

"I have to sharpen it on something," the turian replied.

Val narrowed her eyes at the turian. "What part of 'save it' didn't you understand? Don't they teach discipline in the turian military?"

"Sure," he retorted. "But this isn't the turian military, asari."

Val shook her head, a look of disgust crossing her face. Cami couldn't blame her. That had been a low blow from Raethus. She was surprised Wrev had actually contained himself. She was beginning to wonder if maybe there was more to the krogan than he let on.

She cleared her throat, figuring the best way to move on was to lighten the mood. "As much as I'd like to continue hearing this pissing contest, we'll have to save it for later." She pointed to the door leading into the facility. The panel glowed red. "Val, can you get us in?"

Raethus pushed past them to examine the door. "Let me."

Val let out an aggravated sigh, not satisfied with the speed at which he was hacking. She tapped him on the shoulder, gently pushing his omni-tool out of the way. "Move aside and let the professionals handle it." She muttered to herself in asari, opening her omni-tool as she began to bypass the locking mechanism. After a few seconds, the panel turned green.

"Well done," Raethus deadpanned. "Maybe if you'd let me open my omni-tool, I could have done the exact same thing."

"In half the time?" Cami couldn't stop herself from asking sarcastically.

"Don't exaggerate, Cami," he chided.

"She wasn't," Val retorted.

"You're right." Raethus gave them a mocking smile. "I just didn't want to make you feel bad."

_I should've kept my mouth shut_, Cami thought to herself as the insults commenced.

"I don't care what you think, turian," Val said.

Raethus shrugged. "I think I've gathered that by now."

"You always have to get the last word in, don't you?" Val asked condescendingly. "Does it make you feel better?"

"Last time I checked, you're the one who's still talking," Raethus grunted.

"Why don't you let _me _have the last word?" Wrev suddenly spoke up. "Shut up and let's keep moving."

"Yes, thank you," Cami answered gratefully. "Moving on..." She moved past them and stepped into the hallway.

The base was unusually quiet. The lights on the ceiling flickered ominously. She was suddenly reminded of a horror flick where the protagonists entered the abandoned house, and the audience screamed at them to run out, knowing of the dangers that lay ahead.

Okay, maybe thinking about scary movies wasn't such a great idea. She shook her head, trying to get rid of those thoughts. "Anyone else creeped out by how quiet it is?"

"No," Wrev barked from behind her. "Now shut up so we can find what we're looking for."

Val opened her omni-tool and began scanning their surroundings. "I'm detecting a lower level not shown on the map provided us."

"How much farther is the door that'll lead us to the lower level?" Cami asked her, grabbing her pistol. Even through her gloves, she could feel the comfort of the cold metal as she gripped it in her hands.

Val examined the readings closer. "Looks like there should be an entrance on the opposite side of the room, just up ahead." She closed her omni-tool, taking a quick moment to look at them. "We should have run into someone by now. Even bodies."

"Hence the creepiness," Cami replied, throwing a quick glare to Wrev, though she doubted he could make out her expression behind her helmet.

They slowly made their way into the room that Val had indicated but there was nothing there. There was no evidence of a door, just a metal wall greeted them.

"Well that's just perfect," Wrev muttered. "We have hardly any intel, and what we _do _have is wrong."

But Val wasn't paying attention to him. She seemed distracted as she approached the wall that her 'tool had indicated as a door. "No... it's not wrong." She ran her fingers along the decorative seams, obviously looking for something. After a few seconds, she smiled as the wall slid to the side revealing a dark room. "Corporations are paranoid, Pinky. The good research is never out in plain sight."

"Nice!" Cami offered a huge smile to Val. She pointed her flashlight into the room, immediately realizing that it was an elevator shaft, and the elevator car was clearly locked at the bottom of the shaft. She glanced over at them, glad that her helmet hid her dubious expression. "So...who wants to go first?"

"I'll go." Wrex volunteered, throwing Cami an agitated look. "Wouldn't want you to get scared."

"Right behind ya, big guy," she replied, reaching out to pat him on the back, then thought better of it and resorted to putting her pistol away.

Cami caught Val's smirk as she followed Wrev into the shaft and smiled to herself. She knew that the krogan thought very little of her. Hell, if there was anything Raethus and Wrev would ever agree on, it would be their lack of faith in her. But she wasn't going to let their uncertainty get to her. Rather, she would let her actions speak for themselves.

The climb down only took a couple of minutes and, by the time she had reached the bottom, Wrev had already opened the hatch to the elevator car and jumped down. Cami jumped down after him, quickly followed by Val and Raethus. She hit the button to open the doors with her fist but nothing happened. The power seemed to be out.

"Is there a way to open these doors?" she asked Val, who quickly nodded and opened up her omni-tool.

Cami saw her scan the control panel, and an array of data began to stream onto the 'tool. Behind her, Wrev let out a small grunt, and she turned to find him attempting to pry the doors open with his bare hands. She shook her head, smiling to herself. The metal doors were way too heavy to just slide open.

"You're not going to be able to hack a door without power, asari," Raethus said condescendingly, moving to the panel next to the door and ripping it off with a firm yank, before carefully putting a claw into the midst of the wiring. "Let someone who knows what they're doing take care of this."

"I know that, _turian_. I was scanning the control panel to make sure whoever's here didn't leave us an explosive surprise," Val answered back. "Next time you should - "

But whatever Val had been about to say was drowned out by Wrev's guttural groan as he used his strength to force the doors open.

_Son of a bitch_, Cami thought, as a wry smile plastered her face. _Bastard actually got the doors open_.

Before she had a chance to marvel at the krogan's power, however, a loud beeping sound turned their attention to a proximity bomb that had been conveniently placed right outside the door.

"Not a bad idea," Rae muttered behind her as the beeping suddenly increased.

Without thinking, Cami pulled up a barrier, the thin shield materializing in front of all of them as the bomb went off. She flinched instinctively as the barrier absorbed the blast. Although the heat from the explosion wasn't as powerful, it still made them all take a step back. Cami maintained the barrier for a few more seconds before releasing it and letting out a breath. That had been too close.

"Nice," Raethus said. "That might have singed a mandible."

Cami wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or not, though she was quite sure she didn't detect any sarcasm in his comment. Or so she thought. She was still getting a feel for the turian, but she had a feeling that he just disliked every single thing.

She chanced a peek out into the hallway. A staccato of gunfire erupted from the other end, pushing her back into the relative safety of the elevator. Well, at least now they knew why the base had gone dark. Even though she'd only taken a brief glimpse, it was hard to miss the Cerberus logo emblazoned on the enemies' armor.

"The hallway is lined with doors that lead into other rooms," Val said, accessing the map on her 'tool. "Judging by the size of the rooms, I'd bet they're labs."

"Too much to hope for at least one of those doors to be open?" Cami asked, putting a barrier around herself before taking a quick look outside again.

"If only things were that easy," the asari replied, pulling out her pistol. "How many do you see?"

"Um...ten, I think?" Cami guessed as a bullet ricocheted off the wall behind her, forcing her to squeeze in next to Wrev to take cover. "At least one sniper." She gestured to the bullet hole. "A few regular troopers and a couple of bigger guys."

"Move," Wrev shoved her to the side as he brought out his shotgun. He fired twice into the hallway and made an attempt to step out.

"Hey!" Raethus yelled, as the krogan almost moved in front of his pistol shots. "How about you stay _out _of the line of fire?"

"Jesus Christ! Can you two please not argue in the middle of an open hallway?" Cami yelled out as she attempted to take cover in the small nook that housed a locked door. "We need to work together if we want to - "

"Who put _you _in charge, human?" Wrev yelled back as he threw back two Cerberus troopers with a lazy wave of his arm.

"Nobody," Cami seethed. She pulled out of cover long enough to blast a guy in the chest with her shotgun. "I just think it's best if we - "

"Damn it!" Raethus shouted as he rounded on Val. "I _told _you. Stay out of my way when I'm pulling someone."

Val raised an eyebrow at him as she put in one last round in the trooper the turian had just pulled. "He was open and in my way. So I shot him."

Rae let out a growl, sending a powerful shockwave down the length of the hallway. The wave caught a grenade in mid-air, bouncing it back towards the heavily shielded enemy soldier that had just thrown it. It exploded just as it reached him, blasting down the shields.

"Good work," Val said, all business as she set up a stasis field around the newly unshielded enemy.

Raethus didn't reply, instead killing the enemy with a quick shot to the head.

"Good to see you guys playing nice for a change," Cami said as she charged the nearest trooper only to watch him crumple to the floor as she reached him. She turned to Raethus who had an innocent look on his face. "Did you just steal my kill?"

Raethus shrugged as he pulled two snipers from their hiding places. Their limbs flew wildly as they floated towards them.

Wrev gave a small chuckle as he pumped his shotgun into the helpless enemies before Raethus had a chance to detonate them again.

"You understand how biotic explosions work, right?" the turian asked, turning his head to glance at the krogan. "I can't blow them up if they're dead, as difficult a concept that must be for a krogan."

Cami just shook her head. She hit the ground with a nova, sending the remaining enemy soldiers flying into the air.

"Take that, fuckwads!" Val exclaimed, detonating the troopers with a warp as they fell. Silence descended upon the hall quickly, with all four members of the task force cautiously emerging from cover and glancing around for any more enemies after the ambush.

"Fuckwads?" Cami glanced at her as she put away her weapon.

"Lara," Val said simply, not offering any other explanation.

Cami just nodded, knowing that Val would explain when and if she wanted to. She turned to the others. "So is this the way it's gonna be for every mission? Arguing the whole damn time and stealing each other's kills?"

"You really think they'll be sending us on more missions?" Raethus asked rhetorically, keeping his pistol raised as he stalked forward.

Val just rolled her eyes and made her way to the nearest door. She opened up her omni-tool and started hacking.

"Of course," Cami immediately replied. "Like it or not we're stuck together until this war ends."

"At the rate we're going, that shouldn't be too long," he muttered darkly.

She bit down on a retort, refusing, once again, to play his game. Cami couldn't understand his cynicism. She had always been taught to hold out hope, to have faith. She briefly wondered what had happened to him to cause him to be so derisive. Val, thankfully, got the door open just then, saving Cami from further speculating about the turian.

Just as Val had suspected, the door opened up to a large laboratory. Cami's trained eyes quickly surveyed the room, searching for any danger. Several terminals were lined up along one wall and research stations were scattered throughout the room.

"I'll try to gain root access to one of these terminals," Val said, already punching commands to hack into the database. "Finally find out what the hell we're doing here." Menus flew across the screen as the asari scrubbed the database. She mused aloud as she dug through the data, "Though at least we know why the base went silent. What the hell Cerberus wants is yet to be determined."

Cami nodded as she walked around the room. Wrev stayed near the door, shotgun in hand as he kept watch, and Raethus leaned against a terminal nearby. The room itself was empty, though it held a disorganized feel to it. Almost as if whoever had occupied it last had left in a hurry, leaving behind half analyzed vials, beakers and petri dishes. Some screens still had streams of data flashing across them.

"Huh," Val whispered as she frowned at the screen in front of her. "That's...odd."

"What?" Cami asked, already making her way to the asari. From the corner of her eye, she saw Wrev and Raethus also perk up in interest.

"We're not alone." Val's fingers flew over the keyboard. "Someone else is trying to hack into the system."

Cami saw Raethus' mandibles move slightly as he gained access to the terminal he had been leaning against.

"Cerberus," Cami concluded. "Looks like we got here just in time to stop them from taking the data. Is there any way to locate them?"

"On it," Rae muttered, and Cami was surprised he didn't have a sarcastic quip to add.

"Vahiyara," Val groused. A message popped up on her screen. There was a highlighted file with the words "Looking for this?" typed next to it. "Bastard is good. But I'm better."

"What's going on?" Cami joined Wrev at the doorway, giving Val and Raethus room to work.

"They're trying to block my access," Val hastily explained. "But they haven't pinpointed my location. With Rae on, that should buy us some more time before they do. Hopefully we find them first, shut down their connection."

"Any idea where they are? Maybe I can go pay them a little visit," Cami said as she pulled out her pistol.

Raethus held up a talon, his beady eyes quickly taking in the information that was displayed on his screen. After a few seconds, he nodded.

"Down the hall, take the third right and then the first left. They should be somewhere near the east wing," he said as he resumed whatever it was he was doing on the terminal.

"Got it," she gave them both a quick nod before turning to Wrev. "You stay here and keep guard?"

The krogan just shrugged but remained where he was. Cami jogged down the long hallway just as Raethus had instructed. The station was bigger than she initially thought. Especially considering this particular section they were in was underground.

"_I've got half the data, but this sonofabitch... Rae, what's the address?_" Val's voice came over the comm.

"_I sent the address to your terminal, but would you like me to read it out? It's quite a long number_," the turian answered sarcastically.

There was a small pause before Val's voice came onto the line again, this time filled with anger. "_Vahiyaranin priya'ar!_" Val shouted. "_He wiped the rest with a recursive algorithm!"_

"I take it that's bad?" Cami asked. Other than the basics needed to operate her omni-tool, she really had no tech knowledge at all. She slowed down as she reached the first intersecting hallway. A quick check showed that it was empty. Where the hell were the rest of the troops? Or the scientists for that matter.

The asari let out an annoyed hiss as Cami resumed her jog. "_He's trying to...ha! I corrupted the OS!"_

Again, Cami had no idea what she was talking about. She shook her head, making a mental note to ask Val for a quick tech lesson when they got back. The next intersecting hallway was empty as well. At least she was closer to finding -

_"Impressive. Too bad I have what I need."_

Cami froze, holding a hand up to the side of her helmet where her comm unit was located. Who the hell was _that_? And how the hell did they access their channel? The bastard had probably been hearing them all along. And seeing them. A glance up showed her the hallway was lined with cameras.

She sprinted down the hall, anxious to reach the shithead before he escaped. She slid into a turn as she finally reached the third intersection. Right...then the first left...

She skidded to a stop. She had just walked into a fairly large room - a bigger research laboratory from what Cami could gather. Only the use of the room was the last thing on her mind. The only thing that mattered were the twenty or so Cerberus soldiers who were reaching for their weapons.

"Shit."

Everything around her exploded into chaos. Cami punched the nearest trooper, sending his weapon flying in the air as she grabbed his arm and twisted him in front of her, using him as a human shield. Her other hand reached for her pistol. Perfectly executed shots brought down two bastards that had been trying to flank her.

The guy she had been holding suddenly grew limp, and her shields sizzled as she realized they had killed their own to get to her. She threw him aside, his body now useless and charged down the length of the room, taking three troopers with her. She pounded them with a quick nova, using the force of the biotic power to upend a mobile workstation. Medical instruments clattered on the floor as she took cover behind it.

"Guys, I, uh...I need a little help here," she breathed into her comm as she gripped her pistol.

"_Cami? What's wrong?"_Val asked.

"Ran right into an ambush." She popped the heat sink on her pistol and reloaded just as her barrier recharged. "I'll try to hold them off as long as I can."

"_On our way._"

A loud metal clank made her glance around the corner of the workstation. Four enemy soldiers were slowly advancing on her. The large shields they were holding scraped against the floor. Cami holstered her pistol and grabbed her shotgun. She fired off a few shots to no effect.

_Damn it..._

She vaulted over cover, charging the nearest soldier. He lifted his shield as he struggled to maintain his balance, giving her just enough to blast him with her shotgun. The others shot at her, making her HUD flash red as her shields reached critical. She punched the floor with a desperate nova, and despite its weakness it still forced the enemy soldiers to stagger back, giving her enough time to vault over a terminal to take cover.

Red laser dots scanned the wall behind her. She was trapped, and they knew it. She could hear the shielded soldiers getting closer. Taking a deep breath, her mind quickly detailed the possible scenarios. Her weapons were no use against their shields, and the most her biotic powers could do was stagger them. Unless she charged her way across the room to reach the door she had walked in from...

She jumped out of cover, grossly misjudging the enemy's location. The nearest one smacked her with his shield, sending her slamming into the wall behind her. She brought up her shotgun, but he punched her arm, knocking her weapon to the floor. Cami was about to attempt a charge when his head suddenly exploded.

More shots rang out and the other two troopers fell dead at her feet along with various other enemies that had been hiding around the room. She quickly looked up to find a lone figure suddenly shimmering into view in the center of the room. He calmly put away his sniper rifle before turning to look at her.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, each evaluating the other. He was dressed in full armor, black in color and no Cerberus emblem in sight. The light mesh of his armor accentuated his athletic figure. He looked oddly relaxed standing there just a few feet away from her. And yet Cami could sense a defiant, almost calculating bearing in his posture. She knew that he was trying to figure out who she was working for, much like she was with him. If he wasn't Cerberus, then who was he with?

"Cami!" Val, Wrev and Raethus suddenly burst into the room. "What happened? Are you - "

"Who is that?" Wrev's booming voice interrupted her. "Can I kill him?"

"Wait! He's not Cerberus!" Cami held out her hands to stop them from shooting at him.

But out of the corner of her eye, she saw the guy reach for his belt. She turned in time to see him throw a small disc at them. She threw up a barrier but the small disc grenade exploded in a flash of white light, sending them all flying back.

Cami landed hard, shaking her head as she removed her helmet and blinked a few times. She hadn't expected a flash grenade, and she was still dazed by the sudden flare of light.

"He's got half the data!" Val yelled out. "Cami, charge the bastard!"

She got up, still feeling slightly disoriented and threw her helmet to the side as she ran off after him. The lights suddenly dimmed and klaxons blared throughout the facility. Red emergency lights flashed around her, but the only thing she was focused on was the guy running ahead of her. She couldn't afford to lose sight of him.

"_Facility lockdown in ten seconds_," the station VI warned.

"Shit," Cami hissed, vaguely noticing doors shutting and panels glowing red as she ran by them.

"_Nine, eight, seven..._"

The guy vaulted over a terminal and rushed through a door just as it was beginning to close. With a last surge of effort, she went off in a biotic charge. Her shoulder managed to clip the door, and it closed and locked behind her.

Adrenaline numbed the pain in her shoulder as she focused on her quarry. She circled her good arm around his waist once she reached him, using the momentum of her charge to send them both tumbling forward. They rolled a few times, each struggling with the other in an attempt to gain control. Cami let out a grunt of pain as they finally came to a stop.

He straddled her, sitting on her legs to keep her from kicking out. His lean body lay over her as he pinned her arms above her head.

"Is this your way of sayin' 'thank you'?" he asked. His voice was remarkably clear despite the helmet he wore, and Cami caught a hint of a southern accent.

"Is this your way of saying 'you're welcome'?" she countered as she struggled against him, but his hold wouldn't give. Despite his lithe appearance, he clearly was a lot stronger than her.

"It's better than the alternative."

Cami could swear he wore a smirk under that helmet, and she threw him a glare. "Who are you?"

He let out a soft chuckle. "Might be best if you don't know that, little lady. Why don't you just call me Ghost?"

"'_Ghost_'?" she asked with a roll of her eyes. "What? All the cool nicknames were taken?"

"That's cute. Kitty's got claws. Let's say it's more of a job title."

"Really?" She stopped struggling and eyed his helmet with a raised eyebrow. "And what exactly do you do...Ghost?"

Another chuckle. "Now, I wouldn't be much of a ghost if I told you that, would I?"

"It was worth a try," she said, trying to sound indifferent. "So..." She arched up against him, trying hard not to wince at the bolt of pain that shot across her shoulder. "...is this the part where you kill me?"

"You know...I'm not so sure," he replied as he gently forced her back to the ground. "It'd be a shame to see such a pretty kitty die so young."

She frowned at him, blowing away a strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail. What was he playing at? She tried to search his eyes, but his visor was too dark. The only thing she caught was her own reflection.

"I'm having a hard time believing you're just gonna let me go."

"Now, I never said anything about lettin' you go. Don't want you followin' me, after all."

"You _do_ know I'm not alone here. My squad should be here soon," she added, fervently hoping that she was right. They wouldn't just leave her on her own. At least she hoped they wouldn't. Rae and Wrev, maybe, but not Val. "Why don't you just hand over the data and maybe I'll think about letting _you_go."

"Please, Kitty," he scoffed. "I saw that 'squad' of yours on the security cameras. Wasn't very impressed. How about this: I get up and take my half of the data. You don't try to follow me and keep your half. Sound good...Kitty?"

"First of all, stop calling me that ridiculous nickname. Second, you need our half of the data as much as we need yours. How 'bout we make a deal?"

Cami really hoped Val was already attempting to hack into the damn room already. Stupid Ghost and his air of superiority. She hated being vulnerable and was growing tired of him having the upper hand.

"First of all, my little kitty cat, you don't seem to be in a position to deal." He put more pressure on her to demonstrate his control of the situation, and she forced herself from wincing in pain again. "Second, I think my boss'll be just fine with half the data. So in reality, I'm doin' you a favor."

"Is that so?" She pressed up against him, a smile touching the corner of her mouth. "You know, I'm starting to think you actually like holding me down like this."

His body pressed back against her as he leaned closer. His helmet brushed the side of her face. "Can't say I'm complainin', Kitty," he whispered close to her ear.

Goosebumps erupted on her flesh, and Cami inhaled sharply. For a moment, neither moved. She could sense his gaze on her, almost as if he was studying her. Her face flushed as she suddenly realized how close they were to each other. Her eyes searched his visor again, brows furrowing, but she only caught her own look of confusion in the reflection and wondered briefly if he was having the same reaction as she was.

And then the moment passed. A sudden noise pulled her from her reverie, and she turned her attention towards the door. The panel fluctuated between green and red. Ghost shifted above her.

"Now, it sounds like your asari friend is startin' to get through my lockdown. If that's the case, I really should be goin'," he said, the slightest hint of regret in his voice. Or had she just imagined that?

"You sure you don't want to stay and meet my friends?" she asked playfully. Just a few more seconds, and she knew the squad would go bursting in. But Ghost seemed to sense that, too.

"As fun as that sounds, I got the feelin' that krogan didn't like me too much. I'd rather not be here when he comes burstin' through the door." He suddenly got to his feet, releasing her and activating his tactical cloak as he walked away. "It was nice meetin' you, Kitty. We should do this again."

"Can't wait," she replied dryly as she drew out her pistol.

But he had already disappeared. She stared down the hallway, pistol still pointed in the general direction he had walked off to. She sat up, rubbing her injured shoulder as the pistol dangled uselessly in her hand.

"What the fuck happened?" Raethus asked as the squad ran into the room.

Cami didn't turn to look at him. Her mind was still focused on Ghost as she continued searching the hallway for any sign of a shimmering cloak. After a few seconds, she let out a frustrated sigh. The same man who'd just disappeared in front of her eyes had killed multiple Cerberus troopers a few minutes back, stole half the data they needed for their mission, and was clearly working against them.

Yet he'd let her live, and didn't even seem bothered he'd lost half the information he had been sent to get.

"I have no idea," Cami replied honestly, still looking at the spot Ghost had disappeared into.


	8. We Will Succeed

Chapter 8

**-Cami-**

Cami lay sprawled on her bed, throwing up an old baseball into the air and deftly catching it as it came back down. Her shoulder still felt sore, but according to Dr. Jess, as she liked to call her, it was nothing more than a bruise that would heal in a few days.

She threw the ball a little off to the side as her mind swirled with thoughts about the mission...the failed mission. Cami arched off the bed as she reached for it. She had sent off her mission report to Hackett and was now awaiting new orders. Cami knew the admiral was busy, but the longer she waited for his debriefing, the more anxious she became.

The door swished open and Val walked into the room. "Hey, Cami." She eyed the baseball. "What are you doing?"

"Nothin'," Cami mumbled, catching the ball one last time before turning over in bed to face Val. "What are you up to?"

Val gave her a wry grin, plopping down on the bed and resting her chin on her hands. "Nothing, as well." She tilted her head to the side. "So what's really bothering you?"

"Nothing," Cami said again, and Val arched a tattooed eyebrow, clearly not believing her. Cami let out an exaggerated sigh. "Everything."

"The mission?" Val asked, nodding in understanding.

"Pretty much, yeah," Cami replied as she resumed throwing the ball up in the air again.

Val suddenly got up, snatching the ball out of the air before taking a seat on the bed next to Cami. "Which part? The less-than-awesome amount of intel, the Cerberus ambush, the loss of half the data, or the third player?"

Cami leaned up on an elbow. "All of the above?" She sat up, drawing her knees up to her chest as she leaned her back against the wall. "It was supposed to be an easy mission, and I messed it all up."

"I think we all played a part in that, Cami. Can't hang everything on your shoulders."

"He was right there." Cami jumped off the bed and began to pace in agitation. "I had him, and he got away. It's my fault we only got half the data."

"I'm pretty sure I was doing the hacking, and not you," Val said with a wry smile. "And he was in the system before we were. Half the data is better than none, and hopefully it was the good half. As for catching him, you were the only one able to catch up to him and injured yourself in the process."

Cami rotated her shoulder. "Not much of an injury though I think my ego got it the worst. I'm actually surprised I got out of that ambush unscathed. Got really lucky." She took a deep breath, calming down a little and sitting on the bed opposite Val. "You're right, though. At least we got some information. I'm hoping that Admiral Hackett will see that as a positive thing. I sent off the mission report as soon as we got back, but I still haven't heard anything." She shook her head, her mind still wrapped around one thing. "Still, though...that bastard just slipped through my fingers..."

"You did get lucky during that ambush," Val conceded. "And you and Ghost certainly weren't shooting each other. In fact, way I remember it, you told us not to shoot him."

"He, uh...he saved my life," Cami answered sheepishly, and Val gave her a knowing smirk. "I was pretty much surrounded. One of the Cerberus soldiers had me cornered and before I could do anything, his head suddenly exploded. It was Ghost. He just appeared out of nowhere and took down every last one of them."

"Do you think he was surprised we weren't Cerberus? Since you spent more time with him than the rest of us." The corner of Val's mouth quirked up into a smile

Cami frowned, choosing to ignore Val's insinuation. "I think he'd been spying on us from the moment we stepped onto the station. Probably saw us fighting those Cerberus troops and knew we weren't with them." She let out a frustrated sigh still unsure of what exactly happened back with Ghost. "I just...I don't know what to think of him. He saved my life, yet he was clearly working against us. He had a chance to kill me, yet he didn't. And there was something else." Cami leaned closer to Val and lowered her voice. "Have you ever felt this...attraction to someone you just met?"

Val laughed. "I am 326 years old. But yes, I have." She turned away, a far-off look in her eyes. "When I met Lara about 7 years ago, there was a connection from the moment I set eyes on her."

Cami nodded in understanding. "He had me pinned down, and there was this moment. This one moment where it felt like the world had stopped and it was just me and him." She shook her head, letting out a soft laugh at the absurdity of what she was saying. "That's crazy, right? I mean, for all I know the guy is our enemy. We don't know who he is or who he works for."

Val frowned and shook her head. "It's not crazy, in fact -"

"Lieutenant Bennett?" Resh's voice came over the intercom. "Transmission for you. Admiral Hackett."

"On my way." Cami stood to leave but stopped at the door. She turned back to look at Val, giving her a smile. "Thanks for the talk. I really wish I'd been blessed with a sister like you."

Val returned her smile. "I have 3 younger sisters. You remind me of the youngest: Lelia."

"I hope I can meet her someday." Cami took a deep breath, bracing herself for the upcoming debriefing. "Well, I shouldn't keep Hackett waiting. I'll see you later."

**-Val-**

The door swished shut behind Cami as she left, and Val flopped onto the bed. Not that she didn't want to talk to Cami (out of everyone on the squad, Cami was the only person she wanted to talk to) but she'd come to the room looking for some solitude.

Cami was right: the mission hadn't gone according to plan. Hell, there hadn't even really been a plan, thanks to the considerable lack of intel provided by the Alliance. Rae raging after they were aboard did nothing to help her mood, either. He seemed incapable of controlling his anger, prone to emotional outbursts when he needed to be focused. The turian definitely had a chip on his shoulder. A chip the size of a planet.

She wasn't looking forward to working with him.

Pinky, however... she grinned. She didn't like him, but she didn't not like him, either. He was gruff, as most krogan tended to be. She appreciated that. She didn't have to like him for them to work together. Something he undoubtedly understood as well, because out of all the bickering on the last mission, he'd done the least.

She idly tapped her fingers on her chest. Her conversation with Cami about Ghost got her thinking... she hadn't talked to Lara in a while. Not since the last message she'd received on the Citadel, actually. Lara was probably the one freaking out now, wondering why in the hell it was taking her so long to write back.

She reached under her bed and retrieved a blank datapad, then eyed the door. Cami had gone to report to Admiral Hackett, but that could be a brief conversation. As much as she adored the human who so reminded her of Lelia, her little Zahra, she wasn't exactly up for more chatting.

Finding a place to sequester herself would be a bit of challenge. She immediately discounted the mess and medbay. The first because everyone would be there and the second because it smelled too clinical. She hadn't gotten a chance to really talk to the armorer, so the armory was out of the question. Which left the cargo hold, the bathrooms, or engineering. Cargo hold was too open, and she shared a bathroom with Rae.

She didn't want the turian bastard to run into her and make pithy comments in her current mood.

Engineering it was. If she remembered correctly, support beams ran along the ceiling. She could easily climb up there and hang out, and she was sure Ranje wouldn't mind. He was quiet, but friendly.

Her mind made up, she swung her feet off the bed and pushed herself off the soft mattress.

Just as she suspected, the drell was the only one in engineering.

"Hey Ranj," she greeted him and he turned around from his terminal. Drive calculations streamed across the screen. "Do you mind if I hang out here for a bit?"

"Not at all," Ranje replied, "I'm just seeing if I can squeeze a little more efficiency out of the engine."

She eyed the beams up above. A bit of a tight fit, but she'd have plenty of room to lay back and think. "I won't get in your way, just want a quiet place to think." She pointed up at the beams and waved the blank datapad. "Have a letter I need to write. You mind if I go up there?"

"Not at all." Ranje smiled at her, and she felt some of her dark mood melt away. "Just don't hurt yourself getting up or down."

"Thanks," she smiled back and started eyeing the wall, looking for a relatively safe way up. Using biotics to ease her way up didn't seem the smartest thing to do so close to the eezo core.

Once she settled onto the beam, she brought the datapad up... and stared at it.

My dearest Lara,

Ugh, too cliché.

Lara,

I'm glad you made it off Earth. I probably would have flipped into crazy mode if you hadn't so... I'm glad you did.

...

By the Goddess, she'd been with Lara for nearly 7 years. Why was writing a letter so damn hard?

Probably because the last time they'd seen each other hadn't exactly ended well. Both of them were too stubborn to back down. Between her sharp tongue and Lara's temper... well, it hadn't been pretty. But having her ass on the line and being stranded on a ship with strangers had a way of making her rethink her priorities.

Val vaguely became aware of Ranje speaking below her. She peeked down and saw Rae standing in the entrance, leaning against the wall, still looking as pissed off as ever. Seriously, did he have any other kind of expression? Hopefully he'd leave soon.

She settled back and stared at the datapad, trying to figure out what else to say.

I'm no longer with my Commando Unit. Asari High Command selected me for an experimental special ops squad. That's probably all I'm allowed to say.

It was hard to think with the soft voice of the drell and the flanging voice of the turian murmuring below her. Perhaps she should find another place to go, because it didn't sound like Rae was going to leave any time soon.

"... did her best. My problem is that her best isn't good enough."

Well, she hadn't planned on saying anything, but if he was going to be an ass about the rest of the squad and not own up to his own mistakes (like any real soldier would), then she wasn't about to keep her mouth shut. She'd about had it up to here with his ego.

She dropped down from the beam and met his eyes with steely determination. "None of our bests were good enough."

With that, she left. She was surprised when Rae didn't bite off a retort. Then again, Ranje had a penchant for making him slightly less infuriating. Which was for the best, because she wasn't looking for a fight.

**-Rae-**

Raethus wasn't exactly feeling happy as he walked into engineering and towards his room. Failed missions tended to have that effect on him. Especially failure because of the incompetence of others.

Lieutnant Bennett had a skillset that included a biotic charge. If she had a clear line of sight on their data thief, and Raethus knew damn well she did, that should have allowed her to incapacitate him with ease. This hadn't proven true in practice. Perhaps the thief had seen the move coming, or was trained to deal with it, but that was an irrelevance. It came down to Bennett to stop him, and she'd messed things up. Badly.

At least the team was on course with his predictions. At this rate, he'd be on the shuttle back to Palaven within days. Every cloud has a silver lining, as the charming human expression went.

"Are you alright, Rae?" Ranje suddenly asked as Raethus brushed past him, causing the turian to turn and look at the smaller drell. "Did something happen during the mission?"

"We messed it up," he growled. "Well, the amateurs upstairs did. I couldn't do much more than just fucking watch."

"Alright, calm down," Ranje said, his voice placating. "What happened that was so bad?"

Raethus sighed, trying to calm himself down. Ranje was the one person on the ship he actually got along with. Getting angry at him, especially when he wasn't on the ground team, was stupid. "We got sent in to recover some data. We didn't recover the data. You work it out."

"You didn't get any of it?" Ranje gave Raethus a surprised look at that news. "Again, what happened? I thought this would be an easy mission."

"It was an easy mission," Rae muttered. "If the Staff Lieutenant hadn't just let the thief who took half the data get away, it would've stayed that way."

"I'm sure Cami did her best to capture the thief," Ranje said diplomatically. "She wouldn't just let him get away."

"I've no doubt she did her best," the turian shrugged. "My problem is that her best isn't good enough."

Much to Raethus' surprise, Val suddenly dropped down from the rafters above them, giving the turian a furious glare.

"None of our bests were good enough," she said, her eyes daring Raethus to make some kind of retaliation as she walked to the door. He fully intended on fulfilling that dare before Ranje quickly placed his hand on the turian's arm to hold him back.

"Rae, don't," he said, as Raethus wriggled his arm against Ranje's hand. "Not everything has to be a fight."

"Tell that to her," Rae muttered darkly. Failure obviously hadn't dulled the asari's knack for infuriating him.

"She walked away, didn't she?"

"This time."

"Just let it go, Rae." Ranje let the turian's arm go. "What's done is done. I'm sure you'll all do better next mission."

Raethus looked at Ranje for a few seconds, the drell's concerned expression making his anger slowly evaporate. "Maybe we will. I just don't do failure. That's why they chose me for this team."

"Well I'm glad they chose someone who doesn't usually fail," Ranje said, smiling. "Just means you'll try harder never to do it again."

Rae gave a small chuckle, flexing his mandibles. "You know me so well."

"Someone on this ship has to."

"Well, I'm glad I chose someone good for it," Rae replied. As much as he hated the SSV Marathon and the vast majority of the crew, Ranje was about the one thing keeping it bearable.

"One does one's best."

"Evidently," Raethus said with a smile, widening his mandibles in a friendly fashion at the drell before pausing. "So...why didn't you tell me Val was up there?"

"I...uh..." Ranje said, obviously uncomfortable. "I didn't think it was that big a deal."

"I just don't like people eavesdropping on me."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind," the drell nodded, then followed it up with a grin. "And it's not like you started talking about her. I would have said something in that case."

"Yeah," Raethus said, suddenly shifting from foot to foot as he became as uncomfortable as the drell had a few moments ago. "I...uh, sort of open up to you more than I would with her."

Ranje's smile grew a tiny bit wider at that. "Well it's nice to know you trust me."

"Compared to everyone else on this ship, I'd name my firstborn after you," Rae chuckled. "Metaphorically, anyway."

"I don't know..." Ranje said, his tone teasing. "I think 'Ranje' would make a nice turian name."

Raethus let out a genuine laugh at that, the sound rumbling up through his body. It wasn't something he was particularly used to. "It's got a ring to it," he finally replied.

"Not sure if 'Raethus' would work for a drell, though."

"No, probably not. That's a damn shame."

"It is," Ranje said thoughtfully. "Such a nice name...just not for a drell."

"You like it?" Rae asked, feeling and looking surprised.

"It has a ring to it," the drell nodded. " And it sounds quintessentially turian."

Rae wasn't really sure how to react to that. The last time anyone had given him a compliment beyond something related to his military work was...well, longer back than he could remember. "Well...thanks."

"My pleasure," Ranje smiled, looking pleased his compliment had the desired effect. "It sounds like you're not used to compliments."

"Well...beyond "good job shooting those people, Raethus," I'm not," he admitted.

"Really? I'm surprised. But I suppose that's just turian stoicism."

"I think it's more to do with turians and biotics," Rae muttered, thinking back to his younger days in the military on leave. Forming turian friends, some of them becoming more...and the vast, vast majority suddenly treating him with an underlying distrust once they found out about the biotics, however hard some of them tried to hide it. The news always changed things with other turians.

Like with his first partner. Raethus was a lot younger then, more idealistic, more naive. They'd been dating for just over six months, and Rae had taken every precaution he could so his biotics would remain a secret. It had been a nervewracking experience when he realised that he wanted to be able to share his secret, and even more stressful when he invited him over to tell the truth.

Nervousness turned to heartbreak fairly quickly.

"I can't say I've heard of too many turian biotics," Ranje said.

"That's because there aren't many," Rae muttered, trying to block the resurfacing memories out. "And the ones that are around mostly end up in Cabals their whole lives. Away from the normal soldiers."

"Really?" the drell asked in surprise. "They keep you apart from the other soldiers? That...doesn't seem like a smart thing to do."

"It isn't," Raethus growled.

Ranje put his hands up, picking up on the anger of the turian standing in front of him. "Alright, I can see this is a touchy subject. We can talk about something else if you'd like."

"Forget it," Rae muttered, his mood now firmly soured as he turned back towards his room. Looking at Ranje was keeping the memories in his head, and he wanted them gone. "I'm just going to go to the room and get some rest."

"Raethus..." Ranje said, catching his arm and spinning the turian back around as he tried to walk away. "I'm sorry for bringing it up. If it makes you feel any better...I wouldn't have put you through that."

"Well, at least you have some common sense, then," he replied, his tone still sharp, though he could feel his mandibles lift in a half-smile at the fact the drell was apologising.

"Engineer, remember?"

"How could I forget?"

"You can't," Ranje chuckled. "Just making sure, though."

Raethus chuckled dryly, but his foul mood was buoyed slightly by the drell's words. "I'll see you in the room."

**-Wrev-**

Urdnot Wrev sat in the room he shared with the human female. Luckily, she wasn't around, giving Wrev the peace and quiet he desired. Personally, he didn't understand what the big deal about that mission was. They went in, killed some Cerberus, and got out. That sounded pretty successful to him.

But for some reason, the others were acting like they let the klixen escape during the hunt. The only thing Wrev was angry about was letting that one human get away. He may not have been Cerberus, but he sure as hell wasn't working on their side.

Wrev grunted and let thoughts of the human go away. If he were lucky, he'd run into the whelp again and give him a thorough beating.

After a while, Wrev finally managed to reach his post-mission calm. Other species might think it absurd for a krogan to actually calm down after a mission, but for Wrev, it was a necessity. His biotics made sure of that.

With his calm finally found, the old krogan decided to go up to the armory and care for his equipment. He'd much prefer to do that kind of thing here in his room, but apparently there were "regulations." Foolishness. And to make matters worse, the so-called armorer was a turian. It seemed like everything about this ship was designed to get on his nerves, but like a true krogan, he got over it.

Exiting his room, Wrev saw the turian heading towards him. The two glared at each other as they passed, but Wrev decided that the turian wasn't worth his time. He simply continued to walk until he was in the elevator. Once on the first deck, he went straight for the armory.

Upon hearing the sound of the door opening, the turian armorer turned around to find Wrev standing there, glaring at him. At least this turian had the good graces to recoil slightly from Wrev's perpetually menacing look.

"Ah, Wrev, I'm...glad you're here," the turian said. "You're the last one to check your weapons in. Just leave them on the table, and I'll get to work on them."

"No," Wrev said. If that damn turian thought he was gonna touch Wrev's weapons, the whelp had another thing coming.

"Look, Wrev, regulation states that only the designated armorer can-"

"Listen, turian. I'm the only one who can touch my guns. You're lucky I'm letting you keep them up here at all. I've had these weapons longer than you've been alive, so I'm damn sure I know how to take care of them better than you do."

To Wrev's slight disappointment, the turian backed off. "Fine," he said, walking towards the door. "They don't pay me enough to deal with a damn krogan." When the door closed behind him, Wrev went to work on his weapons.

Some time later, Wrev was almost done buffing out a dent in the stock of his Revenant that was the result of an impact with a Cerberus trooper's head. Bastards had tougher helmets than Wrev had anticipated.

Suddenly, the whiny salarian pilot's voice comes over ship's comms. "Lieutenant Raethus, Major Valeria, Urdnot Wrev: please report to mess hall," he said. "New mission. Coordinates already locked in."

With a final growl, Wrev finished cleaning his weapon before heading into the mess hall.

**-Cami-**

Cami waited for Hackett's image to disappear before slumping against the wall. She almost let out a dramatic sigh of relief. So the mission hadn't been a total failure after all. Somehow the Alliance had received the other half of the intel through an anonymous source. Cami frowned. Then just who exactly was Ghost working for?

She shook her head. It wasn't any of her concern now. She highly doubted they would run into him again. The Alliance had the data, and the situation with Ghost was now in the past. It was time to focus on the new mission. She gripped the datapad with the new mission details and headed around the corner to the cockpit where Resh sat punching buttons and flicking through various screens.

"Hey, Resh. Can you please call the squad to the mess hall? Got the new mission report," Cami said, waving the datapad. "Admiral Hackett just forwarded the coordinates."

"Absolutely." He punched some more buttons on the console in front of him. "Lieutenant Raethus, Major Valeria, Urdnot Wrev: please report to mess hall. New mission. Coordinates already locked in."

"Thanks," she said, patting the back of his chair before making her way into the mess hall.

**####**

It took a few minutes before the squad piled in from the elevator. Val smiled at her as she took a seat, but Wrev and Raethus looked less than amused. She couldn't blame them. Raethus, especially, hadn't been too pleased with the results of their mission. Cami remained standing, one hand on the back of a chair to keep herself from pacing, and the other tapping the datapad against her thigh.

"And here's our illustrious leader. Ready to inform us how we can fuck up another mission?" Raethus said, leaning back in his chair lazily.

Quite frankly, Cami had had enough of the turian. From the start, all he'd done was complain about everything. She'd tried to be the bigger person and not get pulled into his stupid game, but enough was enough.

"Maybe if you pull that stick out of your ass, you'll realize that what we're doing is saving lives," she finally snapped, rounding on the turian.

"Maybe if you pull your head out your ass, you'll realize this team is a failure, Staff Lieutenant," he countered.

"We can't fail. I won't let it. So you can whine and bitch all you want, but I'll be damned before seeing us go down again. A lot of things are at stake here."

Raethus folded his arms across his chest. "You want to get angry at me for whining and bitching? Remind me again, what exactly have you been doing ever since we got extracted?"

"I've been working my ass off trying to prove we're worth another chance," she answered. It was a half truth, but he didn't need to know that. "Which is more than I can say about you. I know you don't want to be here, any of you. I know you'd rather be out there fighting for your homeworlds. But you're not. You're here. So we might as well make the best of it and at least pretend we like each so that our next mission won't end in disaster."

"I want to be here," Val said quietly, and Cami gave her a smile. She knew she could rely on Val to stick up for her.

"You think the mission failed because I don't like you?" Raethus barked out a laugh. "It failed because of the reasons I don't like you, Staff Lieutenant. You're headstrong, inexperienced, and apparently the representative of the Alliance, who're running this whole operation." He leaned forward in his seat. "The mission won't end in disaster if we have a competent team. Forcing four people together does not make a competent team."

"I'm not giving up on us, Cerenti. We can trade insults all the damn day if you want, but it's not going to change how strongly I want us to succeed. And we will succeed."

The turian glared at her. "Fine. Believe what you want. Spirits knows why the Hierarchy hasn't pulled turian support yet." He sighed dramatically. "I can't leave until I get my orders. So I'll stay until then, do your missions." He let out a sarcastic laugh. "Maybe we'll save some of those lives you keep talking about, because I'm thinking about the people on Palaven who're losing theirs. On Earth, too. And Ilium."

Cami forced herself not to glare at him, taking his agreement as a truce of sorts. "Good. Wrev? Val?" She turned to look at them.

Val frowned at the mention of Illium, and Cami could only guess she was thinking about her family. Cami could certainly relate. Her own family was out there putting up a good fight against the Reapers. After a few seconds, Val looked up at her probably noting her expectant gaze.

"Better than letting the Reapers win, which, I assume, is the reason we were thrown together in the first place," Val said with a slight shrug. "Anyway, Alliance seems to be leading this war, so I'll stay even if this squad fails."

"I couldn't care less about saving lives, but if the fighting is good, I can't complain," Wrev spoke up.

Cami couldn't help but feel thankful towards them. She needed this. Needed to play her part in the fight against the Reapers.

"Thank you. All of you," she said, her eyes relaying the importance of the unspoken pact they had all just made. "We were all chosen for a reason. Let's make that reason stand for something." She finally took a seat, allowing herself to finally relax. "Anyway, I had Resh call you all down here because we just received our next mission from Admiral Hackett."

"What is it?" Val asked, throwing a skeptical glance at the datapad.

Cami waited a few seconds before throwing the pad on the table. "Eden Prime."

**A/N: Yes, this isn't dead! Just updating really slowly because of schedule conflicts with four people combined with colleges, jobs, and suchlike. Though this was mostly TheRev's fault. So blame him.** **The good news is we're back to working on this, so expect more at some point. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


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